Myrtil's Mess

Tricks from the Past

2011-11-03T01:40:00.001+01:00

This was on Hallow's Eve.

Everything was quiet in Steelhead. I had spent the week asking people around, trying to find Margo December, with no luck.
Tired and hungry, I had decided to find a place to spend the night, as it was getting dark. I would resume my quest later. I approached the entrance of the tunnels, not far from the city centre, thinking it would make a good hideout to sleep quietly.
The tunnels were looking quite dark and eerie in the night, and I hesitated.
A sound resonated in the silence, like the cry of an owl, startling me. I was ready to turn back and head towards the deserted city centre, when a huge fireball of flame lit up the entrance of the tunnel, splashing up and around the arch, like a firebomb going off. Blown away by the explosion, I fell on the side, in the grass.
The flames were already flickering away, but the atmosphere was filled with smoke, rising from the ground, and between two fits of cough, I spotted a smothered shape at the tunnel entrance.
"What... what was that?" I stuttered, while squinting to distinguish the tunnel entrance.
Slowly, the smoke cleared out, to reveal a short human shape, dressed in urchin clothes and wearing a big bakerboy hat. As he stepped forward towards me, I noticed his bare feet, and, looking up to his face, I recognized the black mask with a pointy beak that was covering it.
My heart missed a beat.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Him? Him! Right in front of me!
"T... T..." I hiccuped.
"Are you ok?" asked the boy. "What you doing in the mud?"
Suddenly, all the feelings that had been building up during those last two years exploded inside me and I ran to him to hug him, shouting his name.
"TRIKY!!!!"

"Hey wotchit!!'" he screamed, as I was smothering him. "You missed me then?"
My eyes were blurred with happy tears. I stepped back from him but still holding onto his arm to make sure he would not disappear again.
"Not a bit, you idiot!", I replied, sweeping away the humidity in my eyes with the back of my free hand. "How on Earth is that possible???? How are you here???"
Triky stepped back, his cheeky grin changing to a smile of thoughtful adult demeanor.
"I dont know, I... She... All I know is that I'm allowed one hour with you. A gift... I guess it's important somehow."
"One hour?" I repeated, arching an eyebrow. "That's not much!" I glanced at him, suddenly concerned. "Do you mean that you are a kind of... ghost?"
But Tricky was already darting off towards the town centre, giggling. He turned to shout back: "I GUESS THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE WITCHING HOUR!"
"Dammit!" I muttered before running after him as fast as I could. "WAIT FOR ME!!!"
"COME ON I WONNA BURN SOMETHING!" he shouted back.
I couldn't help a smirk, remembering all the things that had been burnt in the past when Triky was around.
We spent the next half hour running around town, me mostly trying to stop him from burning stuff, and laughing as he was knocking on doors before running away, but in the end, we somehow found ourselves near the watermill and decided to take a break and sit by the riverside.
The moon was out and full, lighting up the river side in silver light.
I put a hand on Triky's shoulder and gave him a serious look. "Now we need to talk."

"Talk?", he replied, "What about? Arnt you having fun? Did you see the look on that guy's face when his cat ran in with its tail on fire... PFFT hahaha... i crack myself up."
I couldn't help smiling at the thought, but tried to recompose my serious face. "That was very funny and we had a really great time, but time alas is going quickly and you will soon disappear again... I would like you to tell me what you remember, what happened before you met me in front of this tunnel. You were saying "she" gave you one hour back here. Do you know who that is?"
" Oh man, ..." sighed Triky..."I dunno, it was just a feeling. I just woke up and that's the feeling i had."
I stayed quiet a few moments, to observe him closely, before asking :
"There is something else... Triky, do you remember Willard Steamweaver?"
Triky reacted at once : "But that's my name, how did you know my name?"
"Because I met you when you were an old man." I explained.
" No one calls me Willard, thats a duffuss name", he stated.
"I couldn't agree more", I nodded.
Triky frowned slightly : "Myrtil you are being strange, what's wrong with you?"
I sighed. "I would like to just play all day like you, but my friends' lives are in danger. The whole of Babbage town is in danger. And I think you could stop that, just by telling me something, but I don't know what..."
Triky paused for a moment. "This is like a dream, I'm not dreaming am I, you say I'm a ghost?"
I tilted my head , looking at him sadly, before slowly nodding. "Yes, I think you are... You must be... "
"Two years ago, you see", I continued quietly, "Willard, your other half, came back from the moon and found you. You were reunited, and you died together... I thought I would never see you again..."
"This is Hallow's Eve, and here you are, but just for one hour..." I finished, my voice trembling.
"I dont remember" said Triky softly, "but now I feel something else...I miss you, and I miss other people. I can't remember them but I miss them so much... I didn't want to go... but I had to?"
I shook my head : "No, no you didn't want to go and I don't think you HAD to! This Willard, HE wanted to die, and the only way he had to was to take you with him..."
I tried to fight back the need to cry again. "Everyone misses you Triky. I miss you every day. Every day I regret not having managed to stop that..."

"Everything has its time and place", said Tricky with a half cocked smile. "Don't be upset for me, where ever it is that I am... It feels nice, I don't feel alone."
I looked up at him, trying to find out what he was really thinking. "I... just wish it didn't happen, I don't know why it had to..."
I could not fight it any longer and started to sob silently, my shoulders going up and down, uncontrollably : "It is just so hard to lose a friend..."
I let those words die in the silence of the night.
"But..." I tried to smile, wiping my tears with the back of my hand. "But I am happy if you feel nice where you are. Just never forget that you will never be alone."
Triky smiled. "Dont be sad Myrtil, you can't change the past because the truth is you live now, right now, and right now today you and I, we had fun, because when we are together we have fun, and everytime we ever meet, we will have fun. And in the future we will have fun and burn stuff, that's if we meet in the future, because I don't know if where I am now future exists, it's all a dream to me Myrtil, it's all a dream."
As he was talking, the meaning of his words was slowly penetrating my mind, and starting to lift me out of my sadness.
I smiled back to him spontaneously and nodded softly: "You are right Triky, we will always have fun, wherever, whenever... Everytime you are here. And I am sure I will see you again, even if it is in a dream."
Triky paused, suddenly looking distant. "My time now is almost over... I can feel her."
I put a hand on his shoulder in reflex, as if to keep him back from "her".
"Wait, let me see if..." Triky lifted his hand up to his face. And for the first time, he removed his mask.

His face was very pale, with rose red lips, a small round button nose between two pitch black eyes, from within which sparkled the brightest unnatural light.
Triky leaned close to my face, innocently peering into my eyes before whispering "Look."
My own eyes widened and it was as if I was under a spell, unable to move away from his look.

As I was looking deep into Triky's eyes, my gaze went further than I ever thought possible. I felt strange, but calm, while traveling into his eyes, from the darkness towards the light. The closer I got, the brighter the light was, until it broke up into smaller globes of light. My gaze traveled closer and closer to one of the globes, to the point where I could see within the floating ball of light, what looked like a small unborn child. All around me were other globes of light, and an overall sense of calm. A sense of female compassion.
I felt like all sadness and angst had vanished, to be replaced by serenity.
Then I heard his voice surrounding me. Triky's voice, soft and loving :
"There is a time and a place for everything Myrtil, but you still got choices, the future is not set in stone."
And with a gasp, the lights lifted and I found myself alone by the river side.

I stayed sitting there for a while, thinking about it all, over and over. I knew those globes of light, I had seen them before. I smiled to the moon. After two years of confused mourning, I had eventually seen Triky again. I had been able to tell him how much I missed him, how guilty I felt for not preventing what had happened. And he had brought peace in my heart at last.

Finally rising up on my feet, I walked towards the tree my pigeon had elected as a temporary home and called softly, waking the bird from his sleep : "I have a job for you, Bob."
Dipping into my pocket, my hand found a piece of paper and a small pencil, and I scribbled a few words before rolling the paper into a really tiny tube. The pigeon stepped onto my open palm, and I installed the roll of parchment inside the small metal canister attached to his leg. "Here, bring that to the others!"
Bob took off and my eyes followed his little silhouette, growing smaller and smaller against the full moon.
I smiled again.
Tomorrow at dawn, the first airship departing for New Babbage will have a stowaway.

Leaving my hometown

2011-10-23T01:40:00.000+02:00

Things have gone too far this time and Jason Moriarty attacked Nat and Gadget with blue lightnings.
The Thirteen and Below are scheming in secret, Tepic working hard to find some equipment, and Gadget recruiting Miss Avariel's help to build the aetheric trap in which we hope Moriarty will fall...
Strange capsules have arisen all over the city, seeming to be grown from the ground, and change at dark into horrid growling monsters full of teeth, their big eye following you...
The story written by the automaton displayed at the City Hall is appearing gradually, but backwards. And the closer we get to the beginning, the more people are dieing... Parts of it make me think something is wrong, or something is going to happen. The newest page describes Mister Tenk handing over a sack to Mister Mornington. A sack that Sebastian gave him. And in the last page of the book, I wish I had listened to Triky. Both events, as far as I remember, did not happen yet. I can't recall Triky saying anything to me in the context of a disastrous future, and Triky died two years ago... As for Sebastian, I have no knowledge of him giving a sack to the Mayor. And Sebastian disappeared after the Beast was used to host Moriarty's brain. I believe he might have returned to his tomb, along with the other knights of Malkuth.

I will be sneaking into the next airship departing to Steelhead... I want answers, and think Miss Margo December, Loki's grand-ma, could give them to me. I have not seen her around New Babbage lately, and Steelhead was the town she came from, so this might be my best chance to find her... Triky was a part of Willard Steamweaver, who Margo was engaged to. And she was a member of the Thirteen Club, before becoming slightly nuts... Even if the trip leads to a dead end, at least I would have tried something. I just can't stay sitting around knowing that my friends are marching to their death.

Wish me luck.

Visions from a future

2011-10-09T20:22:00.001+02:00

It's been almost a year since I last wrote in here, and I think this may be because I have been too shaken up by what happened.
Whoever would like to relive the Black Heart mystery should be able to do so by following the clues scattered around town, but the conclusions drawn by those events are that the monks of Malkuth resuscitated to fight the Beast have been destroying all of the Van Creed places around town, and that the Beast itself is at last gone. Well, those are the good points... In truth, I hate having to admit that I have been used by this creepy insane man to "fix" the Beast and call back to life the most dangerous Evil that Babbage has ever known.
I have trouble to sleep at night since Jason Moriarty came back. I wake up from my nightmares and see shadows creeping around me. I do not only fear for myself, but also for all of my friends.

I guess he stayed quiet and hidden during the last months, because there was not more trouble than usual in the city. He had been spotted a few times though, at the Oiling festival, and more recently in the Port, where he had an apparently courteous conversation with two other gentlemen, although anyone knowing him would get shivers running down their spines listening to what he said.

A few days ago, a coded message came to the attention of Mr Tenk, and many citizen gathered at the Town Hall yesterday to find out what would be happening.
Gadget thought it was all a trap, but we just were all too curious to stay away.
Suddenly, the vision of a door flickered right in the middle of the meeting room before vanishing. It was like a ghost door, appearing for just a few seconds in our world and then going back to limbo.
I looked up to see if someone was playing a trick on us. I heard you could make a big image appear in the air, with some light and a smaller image. Just like making animal shadows on a wall with your fingers maybe. But there was nobody in the gallery, and soon we heard Tepic screaming outside.
We all ran out of the Hall to see a big shiny twirly sphere of light right up in the sky in front of the City Hall's stairs.
I s'pose it was a kind of a gate because a huge airship came through it and landed at the bottom of the stairs in a roaring noise. A very old looking man got off from the vessel and walked up to us with difficulty. He asked for the Mayor and as Mr Tenk stepped forward, he gave him a little box.
We were all quite puzzled, but we couldn't ask many questions as he seemed to be in a hurry. He just said "Do not believe him." and then went back into his ship, speaking to himself, hoping he would be able to make it.
We just watched him flying back up and disappearing behind the City Hall when suddenly a loud BANG noise resonated in the air. Loki rushed towards the corner of the City Hall and we followed him to see the wreckage pieces of the strange airship cluttering the cobblestones, smoke billowing from the burning metal.
We looked amongst the pieces, but no body was to be found... He must have desintegrated completely, or burnt to ashes...
Back at the bottom of the stairs, Mr Tenk somehow opened the box the old old man gave him, which liberated a kind of bot. With an open book in front of it.

Mister Tenk transported it into the Hall of exposition, or Hall of Inventions, I don't remember how it's called... There we examined it better, and after the Mayor triggered it, its mechanical arm started to move and write signs on the book in front of it.
Miste Tenk was in awe at the details of the mechanics and I'm afraid he is planning on taking it all apart to see how it works... But we still managed to take a look at what the bot was writing and I have to say that I didn't really like that story...
In the meantime, a newcomer arrived, and introduced himself as the new supervisor for the Van Creed society. He said he was sent as a replacement for his predescessor. I guess he was talking about Jasper Renfold, who ended burnt by Willard Steamweaver in the middle of the City Hall.
That new Van Creed guy was interested in the Writing Bot and I think he wanted to take it with him, or maybe just to read what it was writing, but we were all around and not looking particularly friendly. He didn't seem to mind though, and said he'd just come back later.
By now, we have learnt not to trust the Van Creed bunch, even though they can be quite informative sometimes. We thought they had all been destroyed by the monks of Malkuth, but I suppose some of them had survived, or maybe they are all over the world anyway and the Malkuth couldn't find every of their little hideout... The presence of that new Van Creed supervisor does mean that they are coming back to Babbage though, so something big is certainly going to happen soon... Big and not actually pleasant.

After he left, we talked about what had happened, and what was written in the book. Zaida said that the very old man who came through the gate smelled like Jimmy, but Jimmy answered he didn't smell (which is true, except when he's been running in the sewers).
Then we started to question what was written in the book. Why was it talking about us? Why was there Mr Tenk, Miss Kaylee, Mister Cleanslate in it? Why Victor Mornington and why Jimmy, Triky and I? How did that old man know about us? And why that story talking about us described such an apocalyptic chaos in Babbage...?
Mister Mornington told us about the time gates... That would be just like the gate between worlds that Moriarty opened with the Professor Eliot's device, but it would link two different times instead of two different worlds... That is quite hard to believe really, but some details are very troubling :
1) The airship the very old man was flying looked a lot like the one Jimmy built for the AetherCorp. Except fancier, with more stuff on it.
2) In the book written by the Bot, Jimmy is sent back by Victor, in a kind of time travel capsule.
3) Zaida thinks the old man smelled like Jimmy.
So could that old man be Jimmy from the future sent back to us? And maybe the time travel makes you grow very older..? Or maybe he travelled a lot towards other times before finding the right one?
The idea of this old man being him upset Jimmy a little I think, but he's tough, he should get over it, and the Professor Kristos Sonnerstein said he could come to see him whenever he wanted if he needed to.

If we believe that time travel can exist, then the future described in the book written by the Bot is not nice at all... All of my friends dead, except Jimmy, who is gone somewhere in his capsule, Piermont Landing in flames, the whole of Babbage covered in crabby things that sound quite nasty, and a man, who appears to have triggered all of that. A man who can flash electrical energy from his fingers.
I know of a man whom I think would be able to generate this future world of chaos. That same man who already once brought Old Gods swirling like Doom over New Babbage with their huge tentacles. This man who was still thought to be dead last year, before being brought back to life in a new body, a new potentially invincible body...
Jason Moriarty.

If this is true, then we need to do something to stop him. The urchins will be having a secret urgent meeting tonight in the hideout, and hopefully, Gadget can tell us about this new society they have been planning with Nat, and the devices he has been working on.

While sitting in the hideout, waiting for the meeting to start, two questions keep circling in my head.
Who is this person that the old man told us not to believe?
And why, in the book, my character regrets not to have listened to Triky?

I guess the time is not yet to come when I will get some nightmare-free sleep...

The Beast takes a Bite...

2010-11-28T12:07:00.003+01:00

I have not been around the streets of Babbage much lately, and of course everything seems to happen while I'm not there...

Gadget's "Beest Trap" has been tested by the beast itself, but sadly it has been defeated... And Nat got injured in the process, victim of the beast's ferocious appetite. Gadget managed to photograph the Beast, and Nat explains it all better than me in his journal.

He also told me about that hooded man Gadget and him met and who warned them about the beast. He seemed to know it very well and try to protect us urchins from it.

I questionned Nat about that man and he answered he looked like a monk, but able to fight, and that he had a huge belt, with a symbol on it. And that symbol, we already saw it last year on a stone behind Loki's shops in the cobblestone houses, and on the tombs in the crypt of Malkuth...

Those tombs are the ones of three grand worshippers of Malkuth, according to the letter found on the table in the room Arthur Celtington was renting above Loki's shops in the cobblestone houses, across the canal from the Absinthe cafe.

When I asked Mister Underby about Old Gods last year, he told me that Malkuth was the God of our world, the material plane, and that there were ten worlds in total, all ruled by a different god, and that our world was the "lowest" one, where Malkuth was all powerful, but that in the nine other worlds, the other gods would beat him up. Also, the letter about the Worshippers of Malkuth says something about Malkuth being a kind of connection between our world and the others, which strangely reminds me of the gate opened by Jason Moriarty above the Old Imperial Theatre, three years ago... Maybe the gate has never been properly closed and some influences from the other worlds still manage to reach ours, "waking up" the beast inside the statue, or even letting it slip into our world whereas it wasn't there before?

About at the same time, or soon after, Mr Cleanslate intercepted a radio message from the Van Creed, stating that their headquarters were being attacked by hooded robed men... Seems too much of a coincidence to me. Those men must be Worshippers of Malkuth. Why attacking the Van Creed headquarters though? Do they have something to do with the Beast that the Worshippers of Malkuth are looking for? Did they bring it here? Or do they just have useful informations about it? Could be. The Van Creed seem to have files about everything and everyone..

Whatever the Worshippers of Malkuth do to stop that Beast, it is not enough, and Miss Bookworm and Mister Baroque found an awful puddle of blood next to a child drawing of the Beast and a teddy bear right in front of the City Hall... We believe it is poor little Victor Wunderlich aka Ally Wunder who got snatched by the Beast... Searchings of the sewers and catacombs have been carried out and the Babbage Militia has been warned, but for the moment, no sign of Victor...

Last of all, Mister Blindside, the archaeologist hired by Loki, seems to have disappeared as well...

And it all begins...

The Black Heart.

Urchin Beest Trap!

2010-11-21T23:21:00.003+01:00

When I arrived in Babbage Square this evening, to check on the statue, I saw Gadget with his puppy Socks, talking with a gentleman and a lady.

(photo credit : Gadget Starsider)

He told me that a beast had tried to eat his puppy and a man in a black coat ran after it, telling him to stay behind.

I asked Gadget what the beast was like, and he said it looked like a giant baby covered in blood and it was saying "Gobble... gobble..." and it wanted some flesh.

(photo credit : Gadget Starsider)

Poor Socks looked very shocked!

Gadget thought that the beast might have something to do with the open statue, and I agree, now remembering what Mister Blindside the archaeologist said about the scar in the statue looking like some frightening symbol of womanhood. Was that "baby" born from the statue?

Either way, Gadget decided that he wanted to take a picture of it, and he found a huge photographic equipement. He also decided that we should trap the beast, and he started to set up some wires across the street.

He's not called "Gadget" for nothing. He's got all kinds of things in his pockets and can build ingenious devices in no time.

He soon finished to set up his trap and then we thought that would be better to add a sign for the citizen of Babbage who can read, so they don't trip on the wire and get caught too.

Soon, the sign was ready and placed near the trap, and Gadget triggered it to demonstrate how it would work. Whoever would pull the wire on the ground by tripping onto it would trigger the trap and get entangled and then hung upside down from the rope above inside a big rope net.

And we got another confirmation that the trap was working well when Miss Adele walked by and got caught too because she didn't read the sign...

Then Jimmy arrived and we decided to add a bait for the beast to be attracted there and walk into the trap. Jimmy made up a fake puppy and perched it onto the warning sign, but then Miss Adele pointed out that the beast could snatch the puppy without even triggering the trap and finally Jimmy attached the bait dangling from the upper rope right above the wire.

Gadget set up his photographic apparel in front of the whole, and everything was set and ready for the beast to be caught!!!

The Scar

2010-11-06T15:19:00.004+01:00

Yesterday night was the famous Bonfire and Fireworks night on the bridge between the Absinthe Cafe and the Old Imperial Theatre in Babbage Square.

Each year, Loki's celebration of the Fifth of November is attended by a major crowd of Babbagers, and this night was no exception.

The sky was set alight with rainbows of exploding rockets, and on its little raft on the canal, poor Guy Fawkes burnt to its death once more.

After that much applauded show, Jimmy decided to go back and see the Artifact, as it was just down the street from the bridge.

Soon, lots of other Babbagers followed him, and stumbled upon Mister Bernard Blindside, the archaeologist Loki had asked for help.

Mister Blindside was standing in front of the statue, staring at the bloody scar now ripping it open... He was gutted it got damaged like that, and even suspected it was a street urchin mischief night trick, but we swore we didn't do it. Which is true!

Then we asked lots of questions and Mister Blindside told us he estimated the artifact to be about seven to eight hundreds years old, according to his data, and that it was made of tough ceramic. A very well made ceramic too, suggesting that who ever had this made was of a high order. The blood though, if it was blood, appeared to be fresh.

And the heartbeat was gone.

Mister Holmes examined the scene, with his detective ways, and concluded the scar was made from the inside and not from the outside. He also said he would analyze the blood to find out if it was human, rat or something else.

Then everyone started to think aloud and give their hypothesis of what could have happened. Some wondered if something was inside the statue and broke free, or if someone opened it and released whatever was inside. Others shivered thinking the blood on the floor came from someone who was standing in front of the statue when it ripped open. There was a huge discussion about how on Earth it could have open from the inside, if the heat of the torch nearby could have helped the ceramic crack open, and if the thing was frozen inside and the blood flew out while unfreezing.

Then Mister Blindside observed it almost looked like a case casket for mummification and I jumped on the occasion to state that was my opinion too. I do think there was a mummy of some kind inside. With a beating heart. And blood obviously. And eight hundreds years old I guess.

But people wouldn't believe me and said mummies were dried up and organs removed and yadda yadda, and Mister Blindside added that it could not fit because the artifact was not Egyptian, and that early Medieval Dark Age did not have mummification.

Then Brother Riddler reiterated his hypothesis of the thing inside being frozen, and then they wondered how it could have survived the burning process of the kiln. And Miss Janus said the ceramic could have protected what was inside from the heat.

Mister Holmes said the scar was made from inside, and I believe him, because he must know. And Miss Aeon suggested that something or someone could have woken up the thing inside, even if they didn't rip the statue open themselves. And I agree with that too.

Mister Blindside then noticed we were refering to the big opening as a "scar" and found it interesting because it did look like one, and then he added something I'm not quite sure I understand : "or perhaps a terrifying symbol of womanhood". That remark got Miss Janus scowling so I guess it wasn't very nice.

Nat thinks that this is all related to Triky's death, as it happened at the same place. I told him the statue was eight hundreds years old and Triky died only last year... He replied that maybe he knew it was there, and maybe it gave him power joining his soul there. I'm not really sure, but thinking about it, Triky's death could be the trigger that slowly awakened the thing inside the statue.

Anyway, Mister Blindside is supposed to go to the library this morning and said he would report his findings to Mister Holmes and to Miss Janus I think.

In the meantime, we've got a monster of some kind wandering in the streets of Babbage... And maybe the one who woke it up?

Jason Moriarty's body was never found, was it...?

Raising from the Dead

2010-11-02T10:11:00.002+01:00

Jimmy and I went back yesterday night to the place where the statue was half buried, to see how the work of Mister Blindside the archaeologist was progressing.

The statue had now been totally dug out and raised vertically as if it was standing.

Jimmy said that he thought the heartbeat we could hear was louder than the last time, and also even faster. I can't say if it was faster, but that is possible. Although it may be louder only because it was still half buried before and so the sound was harder to hear?

Rich joined us soon after and he too was creeped out by the statue. To me, it more and more looks like a coffin. Although the "hole" in place of the face intrigues me...

Maybe Jimmy is right and it is more like a medieval knight statue. It would explain the bump in the front, looking like he is holding a sword under his robe.

While exploring the rest of the site, I discovered a very little hole in a corner, beneath the broken floor.

Jimmy, Rich and I wriggled down the hole and soon found ourselves walking in a dark, damp narrow way, from which we could smell very strongly the nearby sewers.

We reached a deadend, but as Jimmy stated, that looks like a good new hiding place!

The Living Statue

2010-10-29T19:12:00.003+02:00

Yesterday night, Jimmy and I went to the site behind the Old Imperial Theatre where Loki's old factory exploded last year, and where Triky died...

Loki had told us about some kind of pottery he found there while cleaning it up, and he called an archaeologist named Bernard Blindside to tell him what it was and if it was worth some money.

The rumbles were delimited by thin string lines and two little bottles had been left there, as well as digging trowels or something.

The "pottery" itself looked more like the emerged part of a stone-made statue of some kind. Like a hooded robed figure, a priest maybe. Jimmy said it looked like a medieval statue. Maybe a knight. I thought it could be a coffin too, with a skeleton inside.

We got closer to examine it better, and we started to hear a regular sound, definitely coming from under the statue, or maybe inside it...

The sound resembled a heartbeat.

Later, Caspian and Miss Sky and Mister Scottie joined us, and they too heard the heartbeat. Mr Scottie thought it might be a machinery inside the statue, and that it could have been triggered recently because nobody noticed the sound earlier.

I don't know. As Jimmy remarked, so many strange things happened in the last years, why not a statue with a beating heart?

Miss Sky looked at the statue and said the whole block could be the heart itself, as it was vaguely shaped like one.

Once again I don't know.

But I know I won't be sleeping in the hideout anytime soon. It's much too close to there and I don't want a live statue to come strangle me in my sleep!

I hope we can meet Mister Blindside soon. Maybe he can tell us how old that thing is, and WHAT on Earth it is.

Escapades grand opening (ex-Goony Island) on Friday 17th September 2010

2010-09-12T18:48:00.000+02:00

Also check out Loki's teaser here.
Parcels are for rent (I am building a windmill on one of them) and cabins too. See the plots available on the website and sign up on the forum to get all the latest news!

Goonies got talent !

2010-03-20T22:50:00.001+01:00

SteamHunt 2nd edition

2010-02-27T01:21:00.002+01:00

The second annual Steam grid wide Hunt will be starting on 1st March and lasting for the whole month.

Myrtil's Mess is participating and offering a cool animated clockwork shoulder squirrel as a gift (I'm number 86 on the list of stores in the hunt!!! And there are about 120 if I remember well...).

There is a poster you can click to get more infos at my store in Babbage, with a group joiner and a box of freebies for the Steam hunters.

Children !

2010-01-14T19:18:00.006+01:00

The next Aether Salon of Babbage (http://aethersalon.blogspot.com/) will be a talk and debate on what it was like to be a Victorian child and what it is like to play a victorian child in SL.

Miss Saffia Widdershins will give a very interesting talk, and Jimmy and I will also be there to explain our views on the victorian kids roleplay and answer questions.

If you are interested, come next Sunday 17th January at 2pm SLT :)

Babbage Palisade & Academy of Industry :

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Babbage%20Palisade/254/60/106

and

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Academy%20of%20Industry/2/56/106

Your soul or your life (Spoiler again...)

2010-01-12T20:23:00.025+01:00

!!! WARNING !!! :

Please read this first.

The blog entry that follows contains informations, and speculations about the New Babbage Chronicles Roleplay, Shadow of the Thirteen.
If you do not wish to get informations without trying to retrieve them on your own, or if you don't want to be influenced by my ideas on the case, please consider not reading any further...

Otherwise, well, just go on !

---------------------------------------------------------------

So yesterday evening, everyone gathered in the City Hall to hear what Mr Renfold had to say.

Quite a lot of citizen were there, all wondering why Mr Renfold had asked for an emergency town hall meeting.

Mr Renfold was waiting for everyone to arrive and settle in, while being as unpleasant as usual :

Jesper Renfold: quite a few children here, do they really contribute that much to the interests of New Babbage?

In the end though, he started to explain :

"My fellow Babbage residents for whom i am of service to, i have been sent by the Van Creed to inform you of the great Peril that might fall upon new babbage unless we act quickly.

As you might well know, objects have fallen from the sky, containing automated mechanical clockworks.

The Van Creed were worried at first due to the fact the moon seemed unaturally bright.

We have collected many articles of knowledge that date back to the great fire. Only a few items survived the fire, and some have pointed to a great threat coming from the moon.

Now it has come to my attention that some of you may have acquired information that connects directly with what is happening, and i believe that if we do not work together now, then we may be facing a catastrophe of the scale of the great fire."

You can imagine that the citizen were starting to fidget in their seats and speaking all at the same time, asking questions and wondering about what it was all about, or staying silent and thinking about what they had discovered.

The Captain Skusting talked about the rocket that had crashed into his Ruby's pub, and Mr Renfold asked him more about it. Mr Skusting explained what had happened and also told us about the automatons, that he was calling "live" barrels, as one of them had attacked him.

Jesper Renfold: yes ok, this is what we feared, we believe someone was expelled from not just Babbage, but from the world. We believe this person has abilities or scientific knowledge to raze Babbage to the ground.

Cries of surprise in the audience followed that statement.

Jesper Renfold: those 'live' barrels as you call them seem to be searching for something.

Again, people reacted in different ways. Some of us were already suspecting what the automatons may be searching for, but we said nothing.

We had learnt in the past not to trust the Van Creed, and the people new to town had been warned by the older residents. Mr Renfold would have a hard time getting us to give him informations...

He continued :

"I just feel that perhaps im waisting my time, you all waist your time with such folloys as treasure hunting, that when it comes to the real threat.... well, im just frustrated.

Some of you already know about the 13 club.

The Van Creed have worked with the 13 Club in the past, they are a great source for ideas and technologies years ahead of anything in Caledon and Steelhead.

There where many great scientists in the 13 club, one such scientist was Sir Willard Steamweaver.

Am I right in thinking some of you have heard this name already?"

Mr Renfold's piercing eyes were scanning the audience, waiting for our reactions.

Some of us said they had heard, some that they hadn't.

Mr Renfold went on :

"The Van Creed is not responsible for what the 13 club does, we are just interested in what they do and how it can enrich the lives of New Babbage residents.

The Van Creed have dealt with impossible men before, such as Jason Moriarty.

But what has us most concerned is the myth that Sir Willard Steamweaver gained immortality through his experiments.

So the question is how do we defend ourselves from a man who is immortal?"

After a wave of shock and excitement, the answers started to come from all sides :

Nikolas Souther: An ectoplasmic echo, perhaps. Some scientific remnant of his experiment gone awry.
Stargirl Macbain: The automatons are scanning for immortals?
Dierdre Maven: Destroy his soul?
Beq Janus: we trap him
Breezy Carver: Nods Beq
Myrtil Igaly: send him back to where he comes from?

Wallis Graves: If, as the notes suggest, he was using vampire and werewolf extractions he may have other abilities besides simply living longer.

Mr Renfold nodded :
"Capture him."

That seemed easy to say though, but not that easy in reality... And we soon pointed it out :

Beq Janus: Mr Renfold, if we were to capture Mr Steamweaver, or the creature that claims to be him. Would we be in danger by his presence alone?

Nat Merit: the question is, do we give him his soul or try to keep it from him?
Myrtil Igaly: Good question Nat
Nat Merit: because some of us think we know who the automatons are scanning for
Dierdre Maven: I think his soul was in the box that Arthur let out
Nikolas Souther: Nor may he desire his soul back in the first place.

I thought that Nat, Dierdre and Cyan were right. That Triky was Willard's other half of soul, and apparently, splitting his soul made him immortal. So, if, as Nat and Dierdre suggested, we gave back his soul to Willard... He would become mortal again and could be killed.

But... But that would mean that Triky would die too...

Mr Renfold was still talking about Willard :

"Some believe it was he who started the great fire. He might have even been the influence for the old tales of Angry Jenkins. There is articles suggesting he planed to use ....."

When suddenly...

Dierdre Maven: Oh bloody hell, not again!
Dierdre Maven: no no no no no!

A dark silhouette in a black hood, surrounded with live flames, had made its entrance in the round conference room of the Town Hall, opposite to Mr Renfold. We heard him shouting in a loud and inhuman voice :

Willard Steamweaver: MY SOUL, MY SOUL IS SPLIT

Everyone was frozen in their seats, horrified. Some little children were starting to cry.

Willard stepped towards the center of the room, flames raising more and more around him. He asked again, staring at Mr Renfold :

"YOU MUST TELL ME WHERE IT IS, I MUST FIND IT"

Suddenly, Mr Renfold erupted in flames and we all heard his groan of agony :

"ARGHHHHHH GHHH GAHH"

We had no time to do anything for him, not even throw a glass of water, as someone suggested. He was already dead... Leaving behind him a dust of ashes and his bag, that he had let fall on the ground in panick.

Willard turned towards us and asked again :
"WELL?"

The fire was creeping all around him. The heat was starting to become unbearable.

Willard Steamweaver: YOU MIGHT THINK ME A MONSTER
Willard Steamweaver: FOR HOW I AM, WHAT I DID
Willard Steamweaver: I ONCE LOVED A WOMAN SO MUCH THAT I WANTED US TO LIVE FOR EVER SUCH WAS OUR PASSION FOR LIFE TOGETHER

Nat and Dierdre thought they knew who was Willard's soul. And I thought they were right... They started to ask carefully about the consequences if Willard was regaining his soul... Triky.

Nat Merit: what happens if we tell you?
Nat Merit: what would you do to him?
Dierdre Maven: What does your soul look like?
Nat Merit: if you have your soul, will you die or be stronger?

In his way, Willard answered their concern :
Willard Steamweaver: ALL I WANT IS TO REGAIN MY SOUL AND DIE IN PEACE!

Which made them take their decision...

Nat Merit: I think we should tell him
Dierdre Maven nods at Nat
Myrtil Igaly: but Nat..

Myrtil Igaly: what will happen to his soul then..?

Nat Merit: I know
Stargirl Macbain tries to control her coughing, "Where is it!"
Dierdre Maven: Nat and I know where your soul is, kinda
Nikolas Souther: Then dear God, tell him!
Matthew Querrien: I agree!
Nat Merit: they'll both die in peace
Nat Merit: and we won't fry!

Dierdre Maven: It's an urchin in town

Suddenly, Willard turned towards the entrance :

"I can sense it, it is near."

I jumped on my feet and shouted :
"Noooooooo! DON'T TELL HIM!!!"

But it was too late. Willard had already rushed outside to go find his soul.

I ran out of the Town Hall and I tried to follow the string of people who had been faster than me and who seemed to lead towards Jefferson Way.
When I arrived, there was already a crowd outside of the old Loki's shop.

Willard was inside... And he had captured Triky...

From what Nat described later, Triky was looking terrified when Willard caught him. But now he was just laying on the snowy ground... inconscious...

Jimmy Branagh: 'ee's got Triky!

Myrtil Igaly: NOOOOO
Dierdre Maven: Good
Izzy Breadbin: IF he has his soul back, will he return from whence he came?
Jimmy Branagh: Are you sure?
Dierdre Maven: Yes
Nat Merit: he wants to die
Nat Merit: but Triky doesn't
Dierdre Maven: Triky is his soul Jimmy
Myrtil Igaly: we're not sure at all

I tried to step closer to the shop entrance, but the heat from the flames surrounding Willard and Triky was so hot that it made me suffocate.

Dierdre Maven: Myrtil get back
Myrtil Igaly: but we must stop him!!!!!!!
Dierdre Maven: Nat hold Mytril back
Matilda Twine watches, horrified
Jimmy Branagh: Mybee, but 'ee mye not go back.
Nat Merit: he's going to destroy babbage!

At this moment, the dark shape in the middle of the flames seemed to be turning his head towards us, and he asked :
"You understand this must happen yes?"

I shouted my answer :
"NO!"

Nat tried to reason me :
"Myrtil it has to or babbage will burn."

And Miss Dierdre replied to Willard :
"You need to be at peace."

At this moment, Willard exclaimed in a terrible voice :
"FOR YEARS I HAVE SAT IN MY PRISON LONGING FOR THE DAY THAT BOX WOULD BE OPENED!"

And he vanished in a sudden explosion...

Bricks, pieces of wall were flying everywhere. People were screaming, terrified. The fire wouldn't stop. Some persons were stuck under parts of the building that had fallen onto them...

I managed to drag myself out of the chaos and ran towards Jimmy and Loki, who were standing in front of Mr Pearse's shop.
Loki was witnessing in despair the fall of his old shop. He asked where the "freak" had gone and where Triky was.
I told him Triky was dead and I burst into tears.
I couldn't believe it, that wasn't possible, we had to save him...

Myrtil Igaly: Triky is trapped inside him now
Dierdre Maven: Triky was not real, he was just energy made up to look like an urchin
Myrtil Igaly: maybe we can save him
Jimmy Branagh: Oy don't think so Myrtil
Myrtil Igaly: Triky was real!!!
Matthew Querrien: Tricky was half a soul.

I stomped on the ground, sending snow into the fire.

Soon, the Ladies Fire Brigade of New Babbage arrived, and managed to put the fire out before it damaged any other surrounding buildings.
They really were efficient and everyone congratulated them.

Then someone told about the bag Mr Renfold had left in the Town Hall and documents they had found inside.

I was still sad and empty because of Triky's death, but I decided to head towards the Town Hall, to see what those documents were about.

There were two files into Jesper's bag. One concerning Willard Steamweaver.

And one concerning Margo December.

Both documents were very enlightening.

The file concerning Willard explained his theories on the way to achieve immortality. He had split his soul into two parts, and neither could die. He was immortal, and so was Triky.
But when both halves became one again, he became mortal again, and died...

The file about Margo was describing her as a brilliant scientist, and that was a pity to think that she had now lost her sanity. Maybe one day... Who knows...

Speaking of Margo, she reappeared while I was looking into Jesper's bag in the conference room of the Town Hall.

Dierdre Maven smiles, "Hello Miss December."
Loki Eliot: erm... hi grandma?
Dierdre Maven: The moon should no longer bother you Miss
Jimmy Branagh: That yer grandma Loki?
Matthew Querrien: No more three, Miss December. No more Lover, Loved and Jealous.
Margo December: i rememebr now, he felt me oh yes, he touched me, deep in to my soul
Margo December: but he wanted me in a bottle like a pickeld onion
Dierdre Maven: That doesn't sound good
Margo December: and he worked , did he yes, and pickled away, and that man
Margo December: the man who game me the musical box, for my thing, my things that are mine, that i lost
Loki Eliot: oh great my grandma is bonkers
Matthew Querrien: You're not exactly sane yourself, Loki.
Margo December: he was the one i gave my son
Jimmy Branagh: She's not! She very cute.
Margo December: the moon the moon has gone
Margo December: he is now one the moon is but one and he is gone
Margo December: for the one who was two could live for ever and ever
Margo December: but he took two and made one and is gone now for ever and ever
Beq Janus: Is Steamweaver still at large Margo
Margo December GASPS!
Nat Merit: steamweaver is ...was the moon
Nat Merit: he's died
Margo December: he is gone
Izzy Breadbin: Well then.. that settles that.. or does it?
Margo December sobs lightly
Beq Janus: he is gone.
Beq Janus: hmm
Fax Quixote: My condolences, madam
Jimmy Branagh: Awww
Beq Janus: and the barrels
Myrtil Igaly: apparently it does..
Dierdre Maven: He is at peace now ma'am
Beq Janus: they will cease now?
Myrtil Igaly: So Triky can't be saved......
Margo December: do you now why he is gone? hmm do you? hmm??
Nat Merit: he split his soul
Nat Merit: to live forever
Margo December: aww little triky
Izzy Breadbin: Was Triky ever truely his own entity, or simply a puppet?
Beq Janus: no ma'am
Nat Merit: now he's one soul
Nat Merit: and could die
Matthew Querrien: The two are one, Miss, and the one became zero.
Margo December: alex and triky, close they was, oh so sad it is
Myrtil Igaly: Triky was my friend..
Beq Janus smiles sadly at Myrtil
Margo December: you look so young for someone so old
Nat Merit: did triky kill Arthur?
Nat Merit: or did the box?
Jimmy Branagh: Yeh, 'ee wos a friend.
Matthew Querrien: Who, miss?
Loki Eliot: i dunno if i can handle a grandma whos like this
Myrtil Igaly: She's nice, Loki
Jimmy Branagh: Yeh, she's very noice.
Myrtil Igaly: I would like a grand-ma like that
Dierdre Maven: You should be nice and carry that big ole bag for her
Nat Merit: and she has lightening powers!
Beq Janus: can she not stay with you now
Margo December: loki, what a funny name, who in their right mind names their child Loki?
Myrtil Igaly coughs
Beq Janus: Margo
Loki Eliot: hey!?
Beq Janus: Miss Decmeber
Dierdre Maven: Your son did Margo
Beq Janus: Loki is your grandson
Beq Janus: Loki Eliot
Myrtil Igaly mutters : "Who in their right mind would call their son Halfrid?"
Margo December: i lost something once, long time ago, on a brige, and old brige
Nat Merit giggles
Beq Janus: Alexander was his grandfather
Matilda Twine giggles
Matthew Querrien: Myrtil! [surprised look]
Margo December: i know many stories you know, maybe you boys and girls would like a story?
Jimmy Branagh: Yes please ma'am!
Alaex Aeon: yes please
Myrtil Igaly looks innocent
Matthew Querrien: I'd love to hear one, Miss.
Dierdre Maven smiles
Nat Merit: yes please
Matthew Querrien sits on the floor and listens.
Margo December: there was once a man, yes a man

And suddenly, she ran off.

We thought she was going back to the Old Bridge.
Or maybe the short moment of semi-sanity was lost, and then she had forgotten what she was actually doing here.

But what she had said wasn't necessarily less true.
Willard was gone. And Triky would never come back...

Lots of questions remain though. The first one being the one that started all that : Who killed Arthur Celtington and why? Because he had discovered and open the box?
Will we know one day...?

I set up a memorial for my friend Triky, at Loki's old shop location.
With a candle, because he loved so much the fire.

I am still sad of what happened. And I will never forget him...

The Man in the Moon (Another Spoiler)

2010-01-11T20:03:00.024+01:00

!!! WARNING !!! :

Please read this first.

The blog entry that follows contains informations, and speculations about the New Babbage Chronicles Roleplay, Shadow of the Thirteen.If you do not wish to get informations without trying to retrieve them on your own, or if you don't want to be influenced by my ideas on the case, please consider not reading any further...

Otherwise, well, just go on !

---------------------------------------------------------------

Big crazy day yesterday… What with crashing rockets and chasing around Van Creed representatives and scaring mad old ladies and floating flamed immortal man from the moon looking for their soul…

Ok, I guess that might be better to start from the beginning.

Yesterday afternoon, I met Cyan, who told me he heard about a rocket being crashed in the roof of the Ruby’s pub.
So we went to see…

That was one huge rocket, much bigger than the barrels…, crashed upside down into the balcony, its tip coming through the ceiling of the pub.

There was one round window and the door was open, letting us see a comfy inside with an all pillowed seat. Human sized.

Soooo clearly someone had landed here and left the rocket… Could that be the person who launched the automatons-containing barrels already? Willard? Did that come from the moon or like Triky seemed to think, were they “marshins” ?
Looking around didn’t give us any clue… No foot prints in the snow, nothing.

Going back to Loki’s Absinthe café, I learnt that Jesper Renfold had just left it. Apparently he had been to go see the rocket too and told my friends (who had been following him all the way to the café) that it wasn’t dangerous, but that what was inside, on the other hand, might be the most dangerous thing to befall New Babbage.
Questionned about Alexander Eliot and the body in the wall, his answer was :

Wiggy Undertone: What, may I ask, is of interest to the Van-Creed in this matter?
Jesper Renfold: in which matter? Alexander? bah, silly myths about old stories lost to time
Jesper Renfold: the objects falling froom the sky, thats another thing entirly
Wiggy Undertone: I'd heard about those. I found an empty barrel, nothing more.
Wiggy Undertone: Is there some connection between the barrels and the murdered man at the theatre?
Jesper Renfold: i would not think so, it has been seen that mechanical robots that somehow scanner you for some unknown reason, there is no reason yet to believe they would kill a man
Wiggy Undertone: What are they scanning for? Any idea?
Jesper Renfold: regarding the death of Arthur Celtington, it would seem he got into trouble while seartching for fantasies
Jesper Renfold: we have no idea what they are scanning for
Wiggy Undertone: I see.
Cyan Rayna: Actually he looks as if he was disfigured enough to not be able to really tell who he was.
Nat Merit: did you know him? you said Arthur when you saw him?
Jesper Renfold: no i did not know the man, should you boys be in a place like this?

While I was at the café, one of my friends spotted the bag lady outside, and we decided to follow her to ask her questions about the moon and anything she may know.
We followed her to the Port, where she was admiring a statue of a merman and confusing people, and we tried to talk to her. I asked her how she was called but she wouldn’t answer. She kept telling the same silly things over and over. She also kept walking one way and another, forcing us to follow her back and forth if we wanted to continue the discussion.

(Photo credit: Nat Merit)

At one point, she decided to leave totally and headed towards the Town Hall.
She was quite fast for an old lady and we had to run to catch-up.

Nat saw her coming from the sewers under the Town Hall and then we followed her in the little alley behind the Cobblestone houses, but there, we lost her…
So we decided to hop on our hover karts to be faster and started the hunt.

I can’t describe the long and silly hide-and-seek game we had to play with the bag lady, but it seemed like everytime we had found her, she disappeared again.

We flew until the Old Bridge, where Kaylee was working on her Reality-enforcing device and she shouted us that if we were looking for the old lady, she was headed towards Wheatstone. We landed next to Kaylee to ask her what the lady had told her, and she said :
Kaylee Frye: Something about putting something back before the moon returns
Kaylee Frye: And that she stood on the old bridge before it broke

Mr Tenk was standing along the canal a bit further and we went to ask him again what the old lady had told him. He repeated what Kaylee had said about the moon :
Mosseveno Tenk: she was going on about how she had to put something back before the moon found it.
And so we flew back up to head towards Wheatstone.

Finally, we saw her entering the sewers in front of Mr Salazar Jack’s Kahruvel Steamworks and landed in Jefferson Way.
We heard her talking with Mr Sixpence :

Nightshade Sixpence: those cylinder things?

Margo December: sent by the moon
Margo December: i can here them they are above
Margo December: they are coming
Nightshade Sixpence: who sent them?

Suddenly, Triky warned us that she was behind us, running down the street and we hopped back on the kart to fly towards the Cobblestone Houses.
We stopped there and rushed towards the back alley, where the entrance to the crypt of Malkuth was, and heard voices again, coming from beneath us.

(Photo credit : Nat Merit)

Margo December: now my things my things are all i have now
Nightshade Sixpence: what is this place for?
Nightshade Sixpence: can I see your bag?
Margo December: what place?
Nightshade Sixpence: this Lab
Nightshade Sixpence: how did you know to come here
Margo December: its dark and old
Margo December: i must put it back
Margo December: he told me when the moon returns to put it back
Nightshade Sixpence: you know what this equipment is for?
Nightshade Sixpence: who told you?
Margo December: ive put it back now

(Photo credit: Nat Merit)

Nightshade Sixpence: a music box?
Margo December: i like this song
Nightshade Sixpence: it is nice
Margo December: the man was so nice
Margo December: i remember him, he was so handsome
Nightshade Sixpence: alexander?
Margo December: he came to me when i was at the hospital
Margo December: they said i had an accident
Margo December: that i lost alot of things
Nightshade Sixpence: or willard?
Nightshade Sixpence: what accident?
Margo December: i...i.... dont rememebr
Nightshade Sixpence: where do you live now?
Margo December: he told me, that when the moon returned to put it back where it belongs
Nightshade Sixpence: the Moon?
Nightshade Sixpence: whats wrong with the Moon?
Margo December: it wants

We saw the bag lady leaving the crypt, and we agreed on not following her anymore. We went to the stone, said the words and got down into the crypt to see that thing she had to put back when the Moon returns.

We found the little music box on the table near the cylinders.

And after examining it attentively, we noticed a message inside the box... It was written :

My final words are located where the lion, sword, urchin and key meet each other under the watchful eye of the 13 club.

We decided to get out of the crypt and headed towards Loki's cafe to think about all that.

There, we sat together and started to think about the words we had read on the paper inside the music box.
Those were strangely familiar… Lion, sword, urchin, key. Yep, they were the clues we had to find and that led us ultimately into the crypt.

The sword first, on the painting of the Saints beneath the train station, then the lion, carved in the Palisade wall somewhere in the Academy area, just before the wall turned towards Clockhaven. Then the little urchin, stuck under the last bridge on the canal leading to the Vernian Sea, and finally the key, carved on the bottom of the lighthouse in Clockhaven.
The last words of the Professor Eliot had to be found at the point where all four clues would meet…
So we decided to draw a map, to find that point, and Cyan rummaged in his backpack and showed us a map of New Babbage that he had. As Nat said :
Nat Merit: the stupendous six are always prepared!

Cyan installed his map against the bar and we started drawing on it before the curious eyes of Loki who had no idea what we were doing.

Miss Dierdre Maven arrived in the bar, and she joined us, as she had found the music box too and jumped to the same conclusion.
We placed the four clues on the map, and drew lines joining them, forming a big cross.

The centre of the cross was roughly located at the end of Abney Park way, and we jumped on our feet, packed the map and started to run towards the place.

Once there, we started looking around. Triky asked what we were looking for and we took another look at the notes we had about what was written inside the music box :
My final words are located where the lion sword urchin and key meet each other under the watchful eye of the 13 club.

Suddenly, Cyan exclaimed he had found and he showed us the metal lamp post standing there on the pavement. On the bottom of the post, we could notice the symbol of the Thirteen Club…

Hidden inside, we found a map, clearly drawn by children and showing the location of their Fort.

And another cylinder. The second of Alexander Eliot’s recordings. Here is the transcript :

Alexander Eliot's Second Recording :
-------------------------------------------
It took a while for me to realise what she had done.
We were about to get inside the steam carriage when all of a sudden there was an almighty cry. A sound not unlike a man crying his last breath before death.
I looked down the street to see Willard standing with his arms raised by his side. But this was not Willard as I remembered him. This was not a professor of science, this was not my friend since childhood.
This that stood before me was not even human. And yet, with familiar words, he spoke with resounding piercing truth :
"ALEXANDER, how could you betray me so viciously. And MARGO, all this, everything I have ever done, everything I have ever dreamt, I did it all for you, and this is how you show your love? "
A sick feeling of fear and regret sank through me, as I watched in astonishment as Willard's body erupted into flames, and I scrambled into the steam carriage shouting at the driver to leave with haste.
Looking out of the carriage window, I saw flames shooting through the air from building to building, then the carriage rocked and tumbled.
I held tight to Margo and our baby son, until the carriage came to a halt before kicking the door open.
The streets were ablaze, Babbage was an inferno! People were screaming, families running for their lives, jumping from windows to their deaths to escape the flames.
Chaos, utter chaos.
And above it all, I could hear Willard's painful roar of anguish.
I pulled Margo to her feet and made our way through the crowd of running, scared Babbage residents, towards the old bridge and to safety.
Building were collapsing all around, the screams of those trapped and burning alive ringing through our ears.
I saw an urchin kicked to the ground, unable to pick himself up, so I grabbed the scruff of his worn coat, and pulled him to his feet, before and herding him along with Margo.
The heat was unbearable as we ran down the cobbled streets. Men fought bravely to throw water from the canals onto the flames to stop them from spreading further through Babbage's beautiful buildings.
But the fire could not be stopped.
As we crossed the bridge, my name was called, and I turned to see Willard, his body ablaze.
"MY SOUL, my soul is split, I can not die! I am to live eternally broken because YOU took from me the one thing that completes me! I HATE YOU ALEXANDER AND I HATE YOU MARGO! I HATE YOU BOTH!"
With those final words, fire erupted from him and I would have been engulfed in flame if it were not for Margo.
Her research into the mind afforded her abilities that some still can not comprehend. It was as if a shield had been placed around me, and then, she was there beside me handing me our child.
"GO ALEXANDER, you must save our son."
There was no time for reflection, for goodbyes or considering other options.
She pushed me towards the bridge and I ran across.
One quick glimpse back allowed me time to see Margo and Willard locked in a fight of inhuman powers. Blue and orange lights flashing and lighting up the burning town around them. Then a large explosion caused the old bridge to collapse, and that was the last I ever saw of her.
A month later, I learned from a colleague that the 13 Club had captured Willard.
Being that he was apparently immortal and could not die, the Lord Masters decided that the best option was to banish him from this world. And so it was that Willard, or what was left of the man, was rocketed to the moon, where he is to this day.
And so, you know now the truth. The true reason for why Babbage burned.
It was not the result of any local accidents. It was because a group of men believed they could understand the power of gods. Like children playing adults with a loaded pistol, ignoring the simple things that often are taken for granted. The love and respect for your fellow man.
I still hold fondness for the memories of I and Willard as boys, when we used to play in the tunnels under Babbage.

And I will always… Always miss Margo.

So Willard had really been rocketed to the moon…

And after seeing the rocket crashed into the Ruby’s roof, we suddenly feared he found a way to finally come back to Earth and… do what? Look for something apparently, if the scanning automatons were also his doing. Something or someone. But who? Margo? Something else?

Another thing that the Professor Eliot said made me listen attentively. That little urchin he took with him in the carriage… Could that be… Could that be Jason? We know Jason Moriarty was his protégé, and became his apprentice. That the Professor Eliot pulled him out of the streets and took him under his wing. That little urchin in the recording could very well be him.

But even after all the bad things the Professor Eliot had done, I could not help but feel some pity for him and some sadness for his and Margo’s destiny. Having to be apart at the very moment where they could have started to be together… And never see each other again anymore.

I was sad for Margo. She had lost her man and her son in one awful day. And if, as we thought, she is none other than the bag lady who left the music box in the crypt, then she had also lost her sanity…

Nat thought that those 13 club guys were awesome and Cyan added that we should make a new 13 club of urchins.

I agree.

Taking another look at the children’s map, we noticed the “13” indicating an entrance into the sewers, and decided to go and find the secret “Fort camp”.

At that point, Triky had gone to sleep and the others had ran far ahead of me, so they had already spent a fair amount of time exploring the sewers when I arrived next to the manhole labelled “13” in front of the Kahruvel Steamworks.

I was about to climb down when I heard an horrible cry, something almost inhuman, shaping itself into words resonating loudly in the foggy air :
Willard Steamweaver shouts: WHERE IS MY SOUL!!!!

I ran towards the train station, thinking that the voice was coming from there, but I saw nothing. Just heard the same cry again, louder, closer.
Willard Steamweaver shouts: WHERE IS MY SOUL!!!!

I ran back towards the sewer number 13 to get into the sewers, thinking that the voice was coming from down there, when I stumbled upon Nat, climbing back up. He was very pale and looked scared.
Nat Merit: did you see the clue down there?!
Myrtil Igaly: no
Nat Merit: OK
Nat Merit: I'm a bit freaked out by it

I was wondering what he was meaning, but my current concern was the cry I had just heard and so I asked him if he had seen the person shouting. He said he hadn’t, but heard him. But Dierdre and Cyan were with him in the sewers and they saw it. A hovering dark form engulfed into flames… Flames, as Alexander had described Willard in his recording…

Nat had disappeared again into the sewers, and I climbed down myself. I hopped on the raft floating there and started to sail inside the tunnels, looking at the children’s map to find my way around.

After a while, I had arrived under the Town Hall and spotted Nat, Cyan and Dierdre discussing together :
Nat Merit: he's the one in the crow mask holding a green bottle all the time
Nat Merit: myrtil, how long have you known triky?
Myrtil Igaly: hum
Myrtil Igaly: a few months
Myrtil Igaly: why?
Nat Merit: you not see the most recent clue
Myrtil Igaly: no not yet
Nat Merit: it shows us Willard was called Triky as a kid
Cyan Rayna: Has he always had a thing for pyro
Myrtil Igaly: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nat Merit: yes
Nat Merit: spelled Triky
Myrtil Igaly: where is it?
Cyan Rayna: Thats odd
Nat Merit: it's at the 'fort' shown on the child's map
Nat Merit: willard's looking for the other half of his soul
Myrtil Igaly: no...
Myrtil Igaly: he wants Triky
Nat Merit: and we have a pyromaniac urchin called the name he had as a kid
Nat Merit: we think he wants triky
Myrtil Igaly: yes that sounds right..

I hopped back on my raft with the others to go to the “Fort” indicated on the map, and we soon arrived in front of three dark tunnels entrances.

At the end of the first one, a wooden plateform was installed, against the wall, above the water, and boxes, wooden swords, a kind of table with a large drawing on it, covered it.

I jumped in shock when I noticed the inscription painted on the box under the table…

Dierdre Maven: What is trikys last name?
Myrtil Igaly: Jinx
Cyan Rayna: Nice.
Nat Merit: ji-- yeah
Cyan Rayna: Jinx...
Cyan Rayna: curse
Cyan Rayna: poor guy
Nat Merit: we think Arthur opened the box
Nat Merit: let Triky, Willard's soul-half out
Nat Merit: Triky burned him, maybe
Nat Merit: he does like fire
Nat Merit: a lot
Cyan Rayna: Or Willard soul took over the body of an urchin

Only thing we could do now was try to find Triky and ask him more about his past… Maybe tell him he’d better hide.

And go attend the extraordinary town meeting that Jesper Renfold had asked the Mayor to announce for the day after…

Brainstorming (WARNING : SPOILER)

2010-01-09T16:34:00.040+01:00

!!! WARNING !!! :

Please read this first.

The blog entry that follows contains informations, and speculations about the New Babbage Chronicles Roleplay, Shadow of the Thirteen.
If you do not wish to get informations without trying to retrieve them on your own, or if you don't want to be influenced by my ideas on the case, please consider not reading any further...

Otherwise, well, just go on :op

**********************************************************************************
I have eventually decided to take the risk and put on writing everything my friends and I have found so far about that body in the wall of the Imperial Theatre, as well as my ideas on the subject. Hopefully it will help me understand better and maybe the obvious will just jump at my face!

The Captain Skusting Dagger was there with Loki, Triky, Kaylee and I when we were examining the body, and he noticed that he looked burned. He was completely disfigured and yeah, seemed liked he was lacking a bit of flesh on the face... Although it didn't look totally rotten.

Only things we could still see was a torn scarf around his neck and thin spectacles on his nose.
Oh and, a piece of map on the ground just in front of him... I said that already, didn't I?

The map was showing the theatre, Loki's Absinthe cafe across the street, and the cobblestone houses across the canal from the cafe. Both the theatre and cobblestone houses were circled in red and a red cross was indicating the rear of the cafe.
And at the back of the map, it was written "'No.3 Cobblestone house'" as far as I remember...

So we decided to go take a look at those Cobblestone Houses... We crossed the canal and looked at the shops. Four doors. The third one from the left was giving on a staircase leading to a big room. Nobody inside but a bed, shelvings and a table in the middle.

A table covered in papers...

Covering almost one half of the table, was laid a big map of New Babbage, and next to it, several letters, one of which I spotted immediately because of the "Van Creed" symbol on top of it.

I read it and recognized the signature of my "old friend" Mr Jesper Renfold, the representative of the Van Creed in New Babbage, whom I had already met last year when Jason Moriarty had returned and was seeking the Cloud Angel.

The paper was one of the files the Van Creed seem to have on everything and everyone, and this one was concerning the Thirteen Club.

Another of the documents was a letter from a guy named Charlie and who was talking to his friend Arthur. The symbol on top of that letter was another one I seemed to remember from the past years... Maybe the Freemasons?

From the letter, it appeared that Arthur had left Babbage Square and wanted to come back to investigate on the Professor Alexander Eliot's murder two years ago, or just because he was interested in what the Professor was working on.

And his friend Charlie apparently found the room in the Cobblestone House for him.

Another letter was signed by Arthur himself. Arthur Celtington. And was directed to Jesper Renfold.

In the letter, Arthur was asking Mr Renfold for help from the Van Creed to give him informations about the Thirteen Club and its members.

He seems to have been searching the Professor Eliot's old room and have found a box with a picture of the "old god Malkuth" on the lid, but he didn't manage to open it.

There was actually a little box on the other side of the table... With a kind of skeleton drawn on the lid...

But that box was open. And empty.

And another symbol could be seen in the inside of the lid. A "13".

No clue as to what was inside or if there was something at all...

Apparently, Arthur did look for informations about that Malkuth, or maybe the Van Creed gave them, because the last piece of paper to be found on the table was a report about the Worshipers of Malkuth.

It tells of the ruins of a Monastery hidden below New Babbage and three grand worshippers buried there in a tomb filled with gold.
It says that the Monastery stood there before the Great Empire fell and that it got burnt to the ground by people seeing it as evil.

And it speaks about a quartet of old gods linking the world of Man and the other worlds : Malkuth, Yesod, Hod and Netzah.

My head was starting to hurt a little so I decided to go out and breath some fresh air.

Of course, I couldn't help but going back to the Imperial theatre and just while I was arriving at the back door, I saw Loki running away. Then I heard a voice I knew coming from inside and I rushed in...

Mr Jesper Renfold was there, in the middle of urchins and citizen, looking at the body in the wall. He was saying that the Professor Eliot would be proud of his grandson Loki, and then he recognized me and he even asked Triky if he had burnt any other school recently. Yeah, it was really like he knew EVERYTHING.

And then he turned to the body, got close, examined it and just said : "So this is where Arthur ended up."

(Photo credit : Nat Merit)

Arthur? Like the one from the letters? Seems like we may have identified the dead body in the wall...

But who killed him? And why? Or how did he land in that wall? And why is he so disfigured?

Something in the letters found in the room of the Cobblestone House made me run towards the Absinthe cafe and use the rope hanging in the back to get on the roof and then into the Professor Eliot's old room.

Arthur wrote that he had found the box there. And the cross on the map was right on the Distillery, above which the Professor Eliot's room is.

I looked a bit around and saw the letters dating back from when the Professor had been murdered by Jason Moriarty... I searched the bookcases full of dust and suddenly stumbled upon a piece of paper stuck between two books.

I think I read it twice before understanding anything, and I still read it today without being sure of what it means... Was this letter in the box found in Arthur's room? Or was a symbol found in the box leading to somewhere where that letter was? Who wrote it..?

It tells about the Great Fire of New Babbage and seems to imply that the causes evoked in the Archives wouldn't be the real ones. And the writer seems to think his soul may need salvation in the future...

And... It says the box shouldn't have been opened...

While I was reading the letter, Matilda came in, and I informed her about the recent events. The customers in the cafe beneath us were apparently hearing us because they suddenly asked me about the Van Creed I had mentioned. So I climbed down.

Loki was serving customers and the Father Pizarro was sitting at a table. Mr Wiggy Undertone and him were quite interested by knowing more about the Van Creed and I indulged their curiosity as well as I could.

And after a while... :

Father Pizzaro: How fascinating
Myrtil Igaly: Yeh... But you'd better read the book cause I don't remember all of it very well...
Loki Eliot: New Bababge is a hive of activity with science and invention, they are always watching to see what can be explited
Myrtil Igaly: they say it in the letter in the Cobblestone house
Myrtil Igaly: The Van Creed have files on EVERYTHING
Myrtil Igaly: they know all, watch all, control all
Father Pizzaro: Files on everything, you say?
Father Pizzaro smiles
Myrtil Igaly nods
Myrtil Igaly: Mr Renfold, he knew the corpse in the theatre
Myrtil Igaly: and he knows Loki
Myrtil Igaly: and he knows me
Myrtil Igaly: and he even knows Triky!
Father Pizzaro: One wonders how that would compare to the records the Church keeps.
Myrtil Igaly: Do you have files too?
Father Pizzaro: We do keep records to document history. As well as our research.
Father Pizzaro: As would any organization.
Myrtil Igaly: with an aim?
Loki Eliot: hey you dont think?.... nagh,
Myrtil Igaly: think what?
Father Pizzaro: With the aim of history.
Loki Eliot: well... i dunno, maybe jason is back?
Myrtil Igaly: he fell from the plateform...
Loki Eliot shudders at the thought
Father Pizzaro: Those that do not know history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.
Myrtil Igaly: he can't be back
Loki Eliot: yes but no body was found, and this is new babbage
Myrtil Igaly: but why would he come back anyway??
Myrtil Igaly: he must be weak!
Myrtil Igaly: do you think he killed that man?
Loki Eliot: most of babbage history went up in smoke during the great fire i ve been told
Myrtil Igaly: when was it?
Father Pizzaro: Good evening. Thank you for the conversation.
Loki Eliot: before we was born
Myrtil Igaly: Oh Father
Myrtil Igaly: Is that possible to take a look at the Church files?
Loki Eliot: thank you father for staying and listening :)
Father Pizzaro: I am sure some records were preserved in the Church vaults under the old city.

On this, the Father Pizzaro got up and left the Absinthe cafe. I wanted to follow him to ask him again if I could take a look at the Church records, and where they were keeping them, but he was quite fast and I lost his sight.

I then resumed my clues hunt.

The end of the letter found in the Professor Eliot's room mentionned the train station and something beneath its tracks.

I went to the Babbage Square train station with Matthew and Nat and we found a hole in the ground leading to a hidden crypt in a part of the sewers.

Three tombs were waiting there, overlooked by a great wall painting picturing Saints.

(Photo credit : Nat Merit)

The letter was saying that we needed to find the one who held the sword of flame, and indeed, we found three pieces of paper hidden behind the sword on the painting.

The writing on those letters was exactly the same as on the paper found in the Professor Eliot's room, and later discoveries convinced me that they had been written by the Professor Alexander Eliot himself.

While down there in the crypt, Matthew and Nat mentionned having seen the old lady wearing a huge bag we had already met in front of the Town Hall when we were examining the crashed barrel. They told me she wanted to stop them from going down in the crypt and saying that only the dead went down here. And then she told them :

"Oh you found the rabbit hole, nice down there, safe from the moon he wont find you down there, good little children."

And then she started rambling :

"Three, three... always three...

Father, Son, Holy Ghost.

Lover, Loved, Jealous.

The Sun, the Earth, the Moon.

Look out for the moon, as it wants you all."

At the end of the letters, cryptic words were supposed to lead us to the next clue. We eventually managed to find it (after passing in front of it a hundreds times without seeing it...) and this clue led us to another one, with which another letter was attached.

I know the Professor Eliot was working on the properties of human blood as it was actually Loki's blood that ultimately activated the Porta Terrarum device his grand-father had invented, when Jason Moriarty tried to open a gate to another realm and let the Old Ones enter ours...

But I didn't know he was also working on body regeneration or immortality. As I understand the letter, his friend Willard was most interested in those discoveries but the Professor Eliot was starting to realize they were far from controlling what they were attempting..

The last clue led us back to the Cobblestone House where Arthur had his room, and we looked around a bit before Jimmy finally found a stone in the back alley, holding the symbol of the Old Gods, that was drawn on the paper attached to the last clue.

He spoke the name of the Old God Malkuth and a noise indicated us that a door had been unlocked. Jimmy pushed the wall behind the stone and we followed him and fell into a dark and dusty crypt, full of scientific material...

(Photo credit : Nat Merit)

Three tombs again, were waiting down there, closely sealed, but on their lid, the same symbol as on the stone was carved. Could it be the crypt they are talking about in the letter found in Arthur's room? The worshippers of Malkuth? The tomb was supposed to be filled with gold then...

Instead we examined the laboratory, the curious torture chair in the middle of the room, and found a letter on the table.

A letter from Margo, the one who was supposed to be Willard's fiancee in Alexander Eliot's letters. She is writing to Willard, and calling him also Wilfrid. And she is saying that her child was from the Professor Eliot! Loki's grand-father!

Margo would be Loki's grand-mother!!???

Next to the letter, on the table, were laying several cylinders. We used the machine sitting on the end of the table to listen to them.

Here are the transcripts my urchin friend, Matilda Twine, and I, tried to make of the recordings :

First Recording :

------------------

This is Alexander Eliot.

Sir Willard Steamweaver had been conducting experiments on himself in an attempt to gain immortality. But the Thirteen Club had become very concerned with the ethics behind what he was attempting and sought to stop him, causing him to go into hiding.

-------

I felt a loyal duty to help my long time friend. I supported him with food and money and also attended to his fiancee Miss Margo December while he was deep in his research.

During this time, I and Miss December fell in love. I do not regret this, I had secretely loved her ever since I had joined the Thirteen club. And to see her giving up so much for a man who had quite frankly lost the sight of what truly mattered in this world, it inspires the gentleman in me to take action.

Soon Miss December was with child. Our child. I went to Willard. I went to explain everything. But he assumed it was his child. And my cowardice prevented me from doing the done thing.

Before I knew it, I was returning home with a hangover.

Weeks went by. Months. And still I did not tell the man the truth. His research became more insane. More daring. Human testing! He started to talk about splitting a soul. About the Old Gods and Malkuth.

Eventually, Margo gave birth to our son Halfrid. Such a beautiful boy. I had never been so happy in my life. But in the back of my mind I knew that if Willard was ever to find out in his current state of insanity, it was dangerous for Margo and our son.

So I insisted Margo collect her belongings and made arrangements to leave the town at night. But I was foolish. I was foolish to not respect the love she once held for Willard and masking it as an errand before we left, Margo visited Willard's secret lab one last time.

This would lead to the greatest catastrophes Babbage has ever witnessed. For myself, the biggest heartbreak my life has ever had to endure.

Wilfrid Steamweaver's Cylinder Recordings :

--------------------------------------------

Entry 1 :

---------

So I have moved my lab to beneath the cobblestone house. Unknown to most it's a crypt to the Church to Malkuth. Left over from when the old (townsmen ?) destroyed the Church, killing its monks.

I actually have no idea what the date is. I have been hiding so long as time has left me. It's a dark crypt. And I find it ironic that my final discovery should happen at the place of Malkuth worship. But my work must continue if I'm ever to succeed and save us both.

Entry 2 :

---------

I fear I should perhaps explain why I am here before I move on to the experiments in hand. My name is Sir Willard Steamweaver. A son of New Babbage educated in the Academies in Caledon. I'm a member of the Thirteen Club.
For the last 6 years, I have been studying the way to extend life and, more to the point, attain immortality.

I have gathered many notes on vampires and lycanthropy and researched the many scriptures and ancient beliefs on the subject.

And I do believe there is a scientific possibility.

Alexander, the great friend of years, has also been supporting me, while the Thirteen Club have turned their back on me. I thought the whole point of the Thirteen Club was to support brilliant figures like myself. The reason I left the Academy to come to New Babbage in the first place.

Not long now, a few more tests need to be made before I can start self tests.

Entry 3 :

---------

Margo and I had an argument that ended in me losing my temper and striking her. Her judgement has become clouded due to what's being said amongst the Club members. Why does she not understand the possibilities we'll gain from immortality? I love her so much. But with this technology, we will always be together, forever. And never apart. - Sigh -

Alexander has told me he will take care of Margo and explain everything to her. Good old Alex. I've always been able to count on him. Since we were boys running through the sewers of Babbage. He's always been there when I need him most.

Entry 4 :

---------

The research has not gone to plan. Something is wrong but I can't figure it out. To make matters worse, I have had no time to see my fiancee in weeks. Alexander assured me she is fine. A little under the weather perhaps, but nothing to worry about. Ah, I am frustrated.

Entry 5 :

---------

Alexander tells me that Margo is with child! We celebrate with a fine glass of Absinthe. It's not long before we are on the floor laughing. This news is such a boost of my confidence. Now I have a child to save along with myself and Margo.

Entry 6 :
----------

I've started human tests on vagrants that no one will notice missing. Tests indicate that the strange reaction to the chair will cause the human body to deteriorate almost immediately. I'm missing something obviously, yeah. I'm not sure what.
I'm quite positive I can get things back on track.

Entry 7 :
---------
All tests suggest I'm on the verge of a breakthrough. The last subject showed signs of no body deterioration although he has been horribly disfigured by extreme heating of the body. I believe I have finally fixed this issue and am ready to try it on myself.
Oh! If Alexander and Margo were here, to see my final days of triumph!

Scary...

Hearing about that man's experiments made me remember about Jason Moriarty, and even the Professor Eliot.

The Professor Eliot did test something on Jason, who was his apprentice at the time. Even if Jason was a volunteer, that's still human testing...

And later, after Jason became a werewolf and started to drift apart from the Professor's views, he tested his own version of the Porta Terrarum device on urchins he thought nobody would notice if they disappeared. He killed Lucas, the little ghost of the theatre... He killed many more kids...

And that Willard was just the same. Just trying his experiments on people and throwing them away without a second thought when that failed.

All that happened in the past. Long gone past. But Arthur was certainly not murdered that long ago... He did come, seeked answers, and found a death I imagine more horrible than anything he could have thought of.

His death awoke the past, and more important, it means that someone who knows the past... or someone FROM the past, didn't want him to find out.

We must know.

I walked to the Old Bridge near Iron Bay and found Mr Underby's house. I knocked on the door but he wasn't home. I left a note for him to meet me at the Absinthe Cafe because I had questions to ask him.

I saw him later that day at the Cafe and he accepted to answer my questions.

Myrtil Igaly smiles uncertainly : Hello Mr Underby and thank you for accepting to meet me
Myrtil Igaly: Let's have a seat?
YoYo Underby: How may I be of service?
Myrtil Igaly nods : I will be short
YoYo Underby: You wanted to know about the Old Gods?
Myrtil Igaly: I heard that you were well versed in the Old Gods history
YoYo Underby: Yes, I have some knowledge
Myrtil Igaly nods : Please
Myrtil Igaly: I was just wondering if you knew anything about a god named Malkuth
YoYo Underby: Yes, he is the god of this world, the material plane.
Myrtil Igaly rummages in her pocket and takes a little piece of paper out. She looks at it and adds : "And... three other gods named yesod, hod and Netzah?"
YoYo Underby: There are ten worlds in total, all ruled by a different god.
Myrtil Igaly: OH..
Myrtil Igaly: You mean our world is under the rule of Malkuth but there are nine other worlds out there?
YoYo Underby: It should really be Netzatch
YoYo Underby: And yes.
YoYo Underby: The other nine are worlds "above" ours, in a sense.
YoYo Underby: Some call them heaven, but it is a sloppy sentimental word.
Myrtil Igaly: oh...
YoYo Underby: And not at all accurate.
Myrtil Igaly: and what about those three other gods I told you? Are they related especially to Malkuth?
YoYo Underby: They can be brutal, and also beautiful.
YoYo Underby: Yes.
Myrtil Igaly: Why?
Myrtil Igaly: What is their relationship?
YoYo Underby: The worlds are tests for folk like you and I.
YoYo Underby: Well, Malkuth is all powerful here, but in other planes these other gods "trump" him in stature if you will.
YoYo Underby: He is something of a custodian of this world.
Myrtil Igaly: Oh..
YoYo Underby: I'm afraid I must go for now... perhaps we can talk again soon.
Myrtil Igaly nods
Myrtil Igaly: Thank you again for talking to me
YoYo Underby: It was a pleasure talking with you.
YoYo Underby: Not a problem miss.
YoYo Underby: Good day.
Myrtil Igaly: Good day to you

I had to let Mr Underby go, even if I have more questions to ask him. I look forward to meeting him again. I am wondering what Malkuth is able to do. If his worshippers believed that he and the other gods could open gates to the nine other worlds above us.

I have also been to the library, to read the Archives of New Babbage, and here is what it says about the Great Fire :

The Great Fire of Babbage occurred a few decades ago. It is said possibly a third of the town was destroyed and another third damaged by the fire which started in what is now known as New Babbage. Most of Port Babbage, the canal district and Clockhaven were left untouched. Old Babbage, Wheatstone and Babbage Square had to be rebuilt. Many of the underground Sewer systems predate the building above. The fire was apparently started in just one street. A bakery was blamed, and also the Royal Oak inn which was at the time holding a reception for a young married couple. Some also believe that Angry jack had set fire to a street Urchin and let the boy run around setting fire to near by buildings as he scrambled in distress. Most believe the Royal Oak story though. Since most of the buildings were built just after the fall of the Great Empire, the materials used in those times where cheap wood structures. So it was no surprise that these houses took up flame so easy. "Before long the fire had swept through a third of our beautiful town, many of it's residents burnt to death trapped in their homes, many more left homeless and pennyless. So blinded we had become with our achievements since the Great Empire fell, that one small fire brought all our hopes and dreams crashing down" - John Stewert, journalist at the time of the great fire of New Babbage.

If we believe the Royal Oak story, we could imagine that Willard started the fire, and that the young married couple could have been the Professor Alexander Eliot and Willard's ex-fiancee Miss Margo December. But... But Alexander and Margo were supposed to leave the city. They wouldn't have taken the risk to get married in New Babbage knowing that Willard was around...

In the recordings though, the Professor Eliot seems to think that the Great Fire of Babbage may have been provoked after Willard read Margo's letter.

And in Willard's recordings, he mentions the fact that his experiments induce an extreme heating of the body leading to a disfigurement of the test subject... Burnt... Like Arthur. Would Willard have tried his experiments one more time and something would have gone wrong? Would he have set a fire unintentionnally? Or is it not his doing at all..?

And about Arthur... Did he found the crypt and decided to try the immortality experiment on himself, like we discussed with Nat, Jimmy and Matilda? Or... Did someone knocked him on the head and then tried the experiment on him? Maybe even Willard himself... He could still be alive. He could even be... immortal.

So many questions.

And while we are all running around looking for old stories, things keep falling from the sky. That is what Miss Breezy said she heard Jesper Renfold tell.

Satoshi, Nat and I followed Mr Renfold to Perdido Street, where another barrel had fallen from the sky and crashed on the ground. He seemed frustrated he couldn't arrive earlier to see what was coming from inside the barrel and he blamed it on me because I asked him about the bag lady, causing him to delay. But I had to know. Matthew said Mr Renfold was looking for her. I wanted to know why. She must be of importance...

(Photo credit : Nat Merit)

More barrels, more barrels. Everywhere in New Babbage. Jimmy and I heard one had fallen in the Academy and we rushed to go see it.

The barrel was crashed there, but also a kind of automaton with big pliers and a little propeller. It was hovering around, scanning people and saying "result negative".

It is apparently looking for something, or someone. Yes, most likely someone, since it is only scanning people. But it didn't find it yet.

Folded, the automaton could fit perfectly inside one of the crashed barrels. And there seems to be automatons wandering around every spot where a barrel is crashed.

What are they? Who are they looking for? Where are they coming from and who built them?

Those things are pretty dumb. They just go to the closest person to scan them and they keep pushing them around. They seem to be harmless though. No visible weapons, and they didn't attack us... And they do explode quite easily when one shoots them...

(Picture credit : Kaylee Frye)

Miss Kaylee made a map of where the barrels had fallen, to try and see if there was a pattern. But to me it looks pretty random. All over New Babbage.

I would assume the person sending them wants to cover the largest superficy possible to find the person he's looking for. Cause yeah.. I think someone is sending them. I think someone intelligent did build those things, because they are too dumb to be here by themselves.

The bag lady is awfully scared by the moon. She says it wants us all, that we have to hide. I was thinking... Maybe those barrels come from the moon? Maybe someone managed to travel to there and sends his automatons to bring him someone from Earth back? Maybe... Willard is there and wants his Margo back? It's silly I know.

Only things we can do is keep looking for informations, try to find that Charlie who wrote the letter to Arthur, try to find Willard and Margo... Loki's grand-mother. Maybe Halfrid Eliot, if he is still alive? Loki never talked much about his father. And watch the Van Creed. Why are they interested in the bag lady?

Oh, I hope she doesn't die...

Deeper and Darker : Shadow of the Thirteen

2010-01-06T15:39:00.007+01:00

Here we go again.
It seems like New Babbage isn't happy when nothing grim and atrocious happens...

Another crashed barrel has been spotted in Port Babbage apparently, and Mat told me that the Captain Dagger had been fighting evil boxes... or something like that.

BUT that is not the atrocious thing I was talking about.

No, I was talking about that stinky body Loki found in a wall of the Old Imperial Theatre while he was renovating it.

A disfigured dead stinky body sticking out of the wall... With a scrap of paper on the ground, drawing a map and circled houses...

And to add more suspicion, Mr Jesper Renfold, from the Van Creed society, has again been seen in the area and seemed to know the person in the wall. He called him Arthur...

We wandered around, we looked at the map, we found things... Intriguing objects, troubling letters... We met strange people.

And instead of getting a straight answer, the clues got us deeper and deeper into an inextricable muddle.

We're stuck.

But as I rethink about all that, I am starting to be vaguely aware that this one is not only a simple murder affair but something much bigger and older. Much older than I am and even older than lots or all of the buildings in New Babbage... And it involves dark and mysterious powers...

And then Loki said : "well... i dunno, maybe Jason is back?"

I dearly hope not!

I will just stay quiet on what we have found so far. If Jason Moriarty is involved, if the Van Creed are involved, then killing someone won't bother them.

Anyway, what is that box?

Find it out by yourself if you dare :

http://www.shadowofthe13.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LiMXjG014Q

But you have been warned!!!

Martians in New Babbage? Again??

2009-12-31T11:40:00.010+01:00

Arriving at the Town Hall to take a look at the crashed barrel falling from the sky three nights ago, I crossed the path of Mr Jesper Renfold, leaving the place.

************************************************************************************

************************************************************************************

Myrtil Igaly: why is he leaving?

Triky Jinx: aliens myrtil

Matthew Querrien: He's gotta tell someone something.

Myrtil Igaly: that's not green, alien stuff is always green

Matthew Querrien glances at Underby with visible uncertainty.

Triky Jinx: there gonna eat us a nose it

Myrtil Igaly: oh yes it does look like it fell from the sky

Triky Jinx: i bet they'll look like mr bumbleby

Myrtil Igaly: maybe he's one

YoYo Underby: What was that?

Myrtil Igaly: Your aliens friends missed their landing Mr Underby

Triky Jinx: nuthink

Triky Jinx: SHSSHSH myrtil!

Myrtil Igaly: woops..

YoYo Underby: I know both your names.

YoYo Underby: Mr Tenk has pointed you out.

Myrtil Igaly: you can't I never saw you!

YoYo Underby: But I saw you, Myrtil.

YoYo Underby: And you, little Jinx

************************************************************************************
An old lady with a huge bag full of stuff on her back (including a big telescope, and a chair, don't remember the rest) arrives, climbing down the stairs of the Town Hall.
************************************************************************************

Margo December: oh a

Myrtil Igaly: Hello Madam

Margo December: nice keep my hands warm yes

Margo December: like a stove

Margo December: i small boy with a big chin offered me a stove today

Triky Jinx: ?

Myrtil Igaly: it might be dangerous you know Ma'am

Myrtil Igaly: You've got quite a big package to carry

Margo December: my hand s warm yes they are warm, safe and warm, no moon out today

Matthew Querrien: Everyone has luggage.

Myrtil Igaly: no moon out..?

Triky Jinx: shes barmy

YoYo Underby: You will both wish you had not been so impudent with me.

Myrtil Igaly: moon is out at night Ma'm

Myrtil Igaly: I've not been impudent!

Matthew Querrien picks up a small handful of snow.

Triky Jinx: that sounds serious, what does it mean?

YoYo Underby: You will find out soon enough.

Margo December: this is the tear dropped from the sky

Myrtil Igaly: That barrel?

Triky Jinx gulps

Matthew Querrien: A tear? I though tears were water.

YoYo Underby: A tin tear drop.

YoYo Underby: I leave you all to the mad woman.

*********************************************************************************
Mr Underby changes into something, not sure exactly what cause he got stuck in lag on my screen (something tiny and furry I think), and disappears.

*********************************************************************************

Myrtil Igaly wonders which one is madder

Triky Jinx: ha look hes gone tiny

Matthew Querrien: Good. The company will become bareable again.

Margo December: you all be looking out for the moon will find you

Matthew Querrien: So, Miss, do you know what this is?

Margo December: its warm

Matthew Querrien: It's warm, like a stove, and it's not the moon.

Margo December: keeps my hands warm child

Triky Jinx: uoh

Margo December: keep it in my things maybe useful someday when i get it all back

Triky Jinx: shes a bit to old i think

Myrtil Igaly: you want to take that barrel?

Matthew Querrien: Have you lost your things, miss?

Margo December looks over her shoulder

Margo December: no dear, what i lost i keep with me you see

Matthew Querrien: Oh, i see.

Triky Jinx: have you got some marbles?

Matthew Querrien: So this isn't something you've lost, then?

Myrtil Igaly: Ma'm, why are you talking about the moon, is that dangerous?

Margo December: keeps my hands warm, yes warm and safe

Matthew Querrien: Do you recognise this, then, Miss?

Margo December: when the moon is up, i have to hide

Triky Jinx: hide?

Myrtil Igaly: At night you mean?

Triky Jinx: from the moon?

Margo December: when its up in the sky it looks for me so i must hide

Myrtil Igaly: are you a werewolf?

**********************************************************************************
The old lady climbs up the stairs of the Town Hall and disappears inside.
**********************************************************************************

Myrtil Igaly: Strange old lady

Matthew Querrien: O... kay.

Triky Jinx: what kinda question is that

Myrtil Igaly: cause, werewolves transform during full moons

Triky Jinx: oh i see

Myrtil Igaly: but she doesn't look like one

Triky Jinx: never heard of an oldlady werewolf before

Myrtil Igaly: yeah but

Matthew Querrien: Women like that are proof that girls are weird...

Myrtil Igaly walks to Matthew and slaps his backhead

Matthew Querrien: Oi

Triky Jinx: he he he

Myrtil Igaly: so what is that anyway? A stove?

Matthew Querrien: You're a girl, you tell me.

Triky Jinx: a container

Triky Jinx: you click it and you get a message about it

Mysterious Container: Upon closer inspection this object seems warm, and slightly burnt. Could it be that it has fallen from the sky? Perhaps from some passing airship?The broken bits of wood and brass suggest that the top has been broken, but looking inside only reveals the container to be empty.

Myrtil Igaly leans over and smells the inside

Myrtil Igaly: what was inside you think?

Matthew Querrien: I might travel outside the city, see if it look like something from another city.

Triky Jinx: Martians

Myrtil Igaly: that's a long trip Mat

Myrtil Igaly: we'd see skeletons if there were martians inside

Triky Jinx: we might need to start alien hunting or something, protect ourselves

Myrtil Igaly: oh you think they survived

Myrtil Igaly: but they would be very tiny

Matthew Querrien: Well, the top DOES look forced.

Triky Jinx: i could fit in there and you know what i can do

************************************************************************************
Triky throws a Molotov cocktail to demonstrate what he's able to do.

************************************************************************************

Matthew Querrien: Damn it, will you stop burning things?

Myrtil Igaly: but that would be only ONE Martian then

Myrtil Igaly: Yes I know what you can do!!

Myrtil Igaly: The bag lady might like you, she's always talking about getting warm

Triky Jinx: he

*********************************************************************************
Triky runs away.
*********************************************************************************

Myrtil Igaly: You know that man

Myrtil Igaly: Jesper Renfold

Matthew Querrien: Nope

Myrtil Igaly: I know him

Matthew Querrien: Never seen him before.

Myrtil Igaly: what did he say?

Matthew Querrien: Nothing of interest.

Myrtil Igaly: did he tell who he was gonna see?

Matthew Querrien: [12:44] Jesper Renfold: right i must get back and inform the Van Creed

Myrtil Igaly: oh gosh

Myrtil Igaly: He was already there last year

Myrtil Igaly: The Van Creed are greedy people who just wanted to make money on the Professor Eliot's invention

Matthew Querrien: I'm kinda new, I don't know what this Van Creed is.

Matthew Querrien: Oh, I see!

Matthew Querrien: I heard of that.

Myrtil Igaly: Then they wanted to use Jason Moriarty

Matthew Querrien: We should make sure that thinger is still in place in the theatre.

Myrtil Igaly: I don't think they can use it

Myrtil Igaly: it's broken

Matthew Querrien: Yeah, but it's one of three parts...

Myrtil Igaly: already last year Jason Moriarty tried to use another kind of power source

Myrtil Igaly: the Cloud Angel

Myrtil Igaly: no no, it's all three parts reunited

Matthew Querrien: This may be related.

Matthew Querrien: Oh, it is?

Myrtil Igaly: yep

Myrtil Igaly: but Jason fell from a sky plateform very high in the sky

Matthew Querrien: Hmm

Myrtil Igaly: into the Vernian Sea

Myrtil Igaly: although his body was never found

Myrtil Igaly: I dunno, but I don't like to see That Jesper Renfold around

Myrtil Igaly: he's bad

Bye bye School!

2009-11-22T11:17:00.006+01:00

Last Sunday, it was time to go back to school to show our creations to Mr Jenkin Slenderbelly and to take the 80 pages long ethical test...

There he was again, still looking thin and turquoise with a huge black moustache and tinted glasses. That time he introduced himself as Mr Jenkin Slenderbutt, which was quite suspicious in itself you'll tell me.

He started to go round the classroom and asking every kid to show him their creation.

Loki had made a cool mini bulldozer with the front really looking like a bull. The teacher liked it.

Tepic had made an "ethical detector", that was strangely turning red (for "non-ethical") each time Mr Slenderbutt was touching it, whereas it was almost always green when one of the kids touched it (ok, only a few tried..). The teacher found it interesting.

I'm not sure I remember everything that everyone did, but I recall Red's little Babbage greenhouse (to allow plants to survive in this unwelcoming place). It was looking cool too. And Willow sewed a doll, Fiona had made a lamp, Tsula made an amazing device that was supposed to remove the magical powers if I understood well. It was really great and the teacher asked him to turn it off before someone got harmed.

Jimmy had built an impressive armchair, and when the Professor went to sit on it, he got electrocuted and couldn't stand up for at least 5 minutes! That was really funny to see him jerking in the chair. He finally got up and asked Jimmy to come see him after the class...

Sammy had made a hoop with a stick to bowl it and the teacher told him he was sure he had much fun with it, in a strange voice.
Sandi made a spinning snowman that didn't melt, Billy made a gun, Vivi made a boxing bot apparently designed to specifically boxe Creaky Gloom, and I didn't really see well what Clara made since the teacher had sent me to sit in the corner for talking in class, but I think it was some kind of clank.
Sevian didn't make anything but he had the excuse of being a magpie.

Then the teacher asked me what I had created, and I answered it was a story, so he asked me to stand up and read it aloud.

Here is my story :
Once upon a time was a little boy named Jack, who was living in
a little house with his mum and dad.
He loved them very much and was as happy as a little boy can be. He had little train toys and his favorite teddy bear was wearing a flight helmet, that way he could come along with Jack on all his adventures. And his mum would always knit him fluffy sweaters to keep him all warm and comfy during Winter.

One day though, a big fire burnt the whole house and his parents inside, and the boy became an orphan in less time than needed for the smoke to clear out. Even his teddy bear got lost in the fire...
He was sent to an orphanage where he was sleeping in a huge dormitory with dozens of other orphans like him.
The least we can say is that the adults who were in charge of the orphanage weren't very nice... They were feeding them some very clear soup with nasty bits inside, and some days nothing at all, and were taking every excuse to whip them and beat them up.
You would think that the children were trying to stick together against the grown-ups, but on the contrary, Jack was always laughed at and accused in place of others. He never made any friends there and was just so sad and lonely all the time.
For Christmas, they were just attending a longer mass but never got any presents.
Nor for their birthdays, and the little boy didn't even remember which day he was born on...

When he eventually turned thirteen, Jack was sent to a workhouse where he had to rub out the verdigris from copper-made objects. He wasn't fed much more than what he had at the orphanage and grew up but stayed very thin and bony. He was spending almost all his time in a dark basement rubbing out verdigris and the blue-green dust was sticking to his already pale skin so tight that even if he was able to take a bath, it would have been very hard to remove.
One day another of the boys working there stumbled upon some tool forgotten on the floor and the bottle of acid he was carrying fell and broke, spreading the liquid around. Some of the acid got into Jack's eyes and started to burn them. His eyes turned even redder than they already were because of the verdigris dust, and they became very sensitive to the light and even to the contact of thin air. They started to swell because of the inflammation and became two big blobs. Jack had to find two glass pieces that he would be wearing at all times to protect them, but the pain, although lessened, was still hard to bear.
He didn't make any friends in the workhouse either, because all the others were scared at his appearance, and he grew even more lonely every day, slowly forgetting the happy memories of his childhood that were keeping him hopeful during all these years.

Jack started to become bitter and angry, and couldn't stand to see people around him being happy when life was so cruel with him.
He eventually left the workhouse and started to wander in the
streets, hiding in dark corners, spying on the children laughing around him and he would follow them and play his tricks on them to make them cry. Only then would he feel as close to "happy" as he could get. But it wasn't really happiness, it was more of a revenge feeling and the more he was doing it, the more he was sinking into angriness and revengfulness.

One day, he heard about a test that the children of the city would have to take and he put a disguise on and begged the Mayor to allow him to be their teacher.
Once in the place, he started asking them what it was that made them happy, and he was planning on removing all of those things from around them to make them as sad as possible. He had a twisted feeling of satisfaction while he was imagining all those children crying around him, and he gave them some homework to do, of course, for the following Sunday, to prevent them from having too much fun in between. Because everyone knows that homework is boring.

The day of the test came, and Jack arrived in the class filled with children.
He started to ask them to show him the things they had created as their homework, and they came up to him, and offered them what they had made.
He received a fluffy warm knitted sweater, he received a teddy bear with a flight helmet... He received lots of other presents, and he was just standing there, looking at them while something was happening inside his mind.
The children started to sing "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you Mr Jack" and something funny started to tickle his eyes. He, who couldn't stand to hear children sing, or even birds, he let them wish him a happy birthday because he could hardly remember the last time he had heard that song addressed to him.
The children all ran towards him, and wrapped their little arms around him, to hug him all together, and suddenly something happened inside his chest, and the ice around his heart started to melt while all the memories of his happy childhood were coming back to him.
The children smiled to him, and for the first time in decades, Jack smiled in return.

Mr Slenderbutt didn't like my story, he asked me to stop, but I didn't.
At the end, I walked up to him and offered him the teddy bear with a flight helmet that I had made. And Red walked up to him and offered him the fluffy sweater she had knitted to him, and Willow walked up to him and started hugging him, and the others stood up too, to go hug him, and some started to hum "happy birthday".
The teacher started to cry.
But then he shouted to us to go back to our seats and to back off.

Triky said he hadn't showed yet what he had created, so the teacher turned to him and asked what it was.
Triky brought a huge metal machine with big metal teeth and the teacher backed off a little, startled and asking what that thing was.
Triky answered "It is a Teacher Eater". And he activated it.
The machine started to hum and the big metal teeth moved as if they wanted to eat something. The teacher looked horrified, but he was standing too close and he got caught by the teeth that slowly started to swallow him inside the giant mouth of the machine.
The kids stood up and tried to grab his legs to pull him out, but the Teacher Eater was too powerful.

Suddenly, some smoke started to pour out of the machine, and we almost all ran out of the school.
Miss Breezy was outside, wondering what was happening, and her school exploded before her very eyes...
There were still some kids inside, but luckily they could get out without any harm done to them.
The teacher, though, had disappeared, eaten by the Teacher Eater.

No longer after, we received a note from the Mayor, saying that the test was cancelled indefinitely and that we wouldn't have any other anymore.

It was the end of School for us.

Was it the end of Angry Jenkins though? Not so sure...

Steelhead Shangai on Designing World

2009-11-18T19:42:00.000+01:00

Check it out !!

http://archive.treet.tv/designing-worlds-steelhead-shanghai

A new life.

2009-11-12T21:25:00.004+01:00

I have left New Babbage.

Yes, that surprised me.

It all started with people in the city becoming more and more suspicious about the ones who were "different". Grown-ups, ya know, don't believe in the tales they read in the books. Smoke and mirrors they say, charlatans! Or they get scared and try to hunt down and make disappear everything that doesn't fit their image of a perfect world.

'tis sad cause I know they do exist. I've seen them. Just like in the books, they are. Even the Mayor is an imp, even if he keeps scolding me for saying so.

Miss Mara is an elf, everyone knows that, she doesn't hide it. And Miss Softpaw is a fairy. But life has become too hard for them in New Babbage. People don't like it that they've got special powers. Sure they're jealous or something. Nobody's nicer than them though. But that city doesn't mind if you're nice or not, it just doesn't want things they don't understand. Cause that scares them.

Miss Mara got driven away and decided to go settle in Steelhead, far away across the sea. Miss Softpaw went there too, and lots of urchins with them, and Miss Mara's new friend, a faun lady named Autumn, and her children.

I am sad to leave the city I was born in, where I made all my friends, where I had so many adventures.

I will miss the Imperial theatre, the Absinthe cafe, my lost bakery.

I will miss waving at Mr Holmes and the Doctor Watson on a ride, seeing Mr Tenk on the roofs, going to Miss Breezy's balls, plotting against the evil Dr O, talking with the nice ladies and gentlemen, running on the rooftops, rafting in the sewers and ice-skating on the canals. I will miss the friends I left behind.

But I know I would also miss chatting with gargoyles on the roofs, being hunted down by werewolves, offering tea to a mummy, discovering with horror that ladies I thought my friends and role models had become blood-thirsty vampires, being amazed at the elven healing abilities, trying to figure out what the cloud angels are, speaking with ghosts, meeting the random silly people and creatures appearing in the streets and being dragged spontaneously into a new mysterious and exciting adventure.

I decided it was time for me to travel away and find a new place to play in before my memories of my birth city started to get tainted with dullness and scorn.

So I waved farewell to New Babbage from the boat that was taking us to Steelhead.

I haven't visited the wole of Steelhead yet, but I have started looking around and that seems to be a cool city. It's not the same as Babbage, but it's interesting in a different way. Plus there are trees, and I like climbing on trees. And Flynn too.

Jimmy already found new clothes more suited to the climate in that city, and I have to change mine too. Also I can't wait to meet the local urchins.. I mean, the local children, they're not called urchins over here. Will be fun to compare our accents and ways and adventures and all.

Miss Mara got a dog, called Gonzo. He's very cute with his long hair. I do wonder how he can see where he's going though. But at least he may warn us if Creaky Gloom or some other danger approaches from the Hostel.

I went back to New Babbage for the lesson at school though. The other urchins from Steelhead went too. The teacher, Mr Jenkin Slenderbelly, was very weird. All thin and green-blue with glowing eyes and a big black moustache. He had a big book where he was taking notes and he kept yelling at us, asking us our name and what made us happy.

That's only at the end that I suddenly had a bad feeling after someone noticed it wasn't really a lesson since he just asked us what made us happy. I suddenly recalled someone who had visited Babbage the previous years, the Angry Jenkins. He hated seeing people having fun and his aim was to remove that fun from us. Eventually the Captain Dagger tickled him away and he disappeared.

I wonder if our teacher isn't actually Angry Jenkins, and he knocked the real teacher on the head to take his place...

He asked us to do some homework for Sunday, when we'll have our actual test (80 pages, gah!). We have to create something. And I've got a little idea...

************************************************************************************

The typist's point of view :

***********************

I first came to New Babbage because I found a landmark at Loki's sim, now Goony Island. I visited and found it rather nice. I am not that big a fan of cities though, but Loki's first roleplay event, the Moriarty affair, totally hooked me up there.

I had been roleplaying in SL in others sims, but had grown lazy and bored with most of them. The concept of an optional roleplay really seduced me at this point. I could just be out of character when I didn't feel like roleplaying, didn't have to change clothes or appearance all the time, wear a meter, fill in a character sheet or the other silly things you have to do in a strict RP sim.

It was FREEDOM!

Of course, at the time Babbage was only two sims and not much RP was happening there at all. It was more of a builders town. And sure, it was a very pretty background. But what I really enjoyed was interacting with the people, trying to solve the mysteries etc.

I bought a parcel, built a bakery, invented my own roleplay stories. I met many various interesting avatars and had a lot of fun.

Over the time, New Babbage grew, attracting more people, and more stories. The story tellers aren't any more counted on the fingers of an ET hand but on all 20 fingers and toes of a human. That's a nice thing, everyone can choose to participate in the one they like more. Or not participate at all.

There have always been all kind of creatures in Babbage. Humans, clockworks, fantasy, magical... Has it done any wrong to the Steampunk theme of the city? I don't think so.

Would the lovely builds be affected by the people living and roleplaying around them? I don't think so.

Would visitors think Babbage is a fantasy sim because they crossed an elf or a fairy in the streets? I don't think so. Fantasy sims have got forests and stuff. Never saw one with as many cobblestones and smokestacks.

Will Babbage become boring and restrictive if the roleplay and the characters are regulated? Well for my own personal case, the answer is yes. Most of what I loved in Babbage, its freedom and openness, will be lost.

I can't argue because this is the Mayor's decision, and he is the one who owns and pays for the sims.

Thus, I prefer to leave it now, before it becomes unbearable for me.

It's been a hard decision, because I have lots of fond memories there, but I am sure I can have as much fun in Steelhead. Oliver Twist Myrtil will just slowly become Huckleberry Finn Myrtil :)

A threat on the New Babbage urchins

2009-10-17T12:59:00.004+02:00

Wednesday night, Loki gathered the urchins of New Babbage in the hideout to see a bit who was new, how much of the Babbage history was known, to make sure every urchin would be aware of the dangers that could roam about in the streets, and also to plan a little Halloween.

We were all discussing and it was good to meet new kids and remember the past events, and we came up with all kinds of fun ideas for Halloween, but I think it got Triky a bit excited as he kept wanting to "blow stuff up" and Janet quite agreed with him in a pyromaniac way and at one point Triky disappeared without us noticing and a bit later we heard back from him. He seemed a bit worried because there was a fire at the old location of Loki's store, just behind the Imperial, and so we all ran towards there.

That was a big fire, and it soon caught up on the upper floor. We tried to call the Babbage ladies fire brigade but apparently they weren't there and a few citizens arrived, alerted by our shouts, but that was thanks to an urchin, Lil Max, that the fire could finally be watered out.

The problem is... That this story somehow made its way to the pointy ears of our dear Mayor and that he decided the fire was our fault and we were all unruly kids and something had to be done about that. Here is the official note he sent, I let you judge by yourself... :

It has come to my attention that the urchins of our fair city have shown less than adequate levels of respect, moral fiber and a severe lack of education, particularly in mathematics.
In light of the recent burnings, it is my mayoral duty to prevent further disobediant acts towards residents and property of the State. All urchins will take part in an exam to be proctored at the Babbage School for Urchins to assess their basic Ethics and Morals and prevent further unruly acts against respectable citizens, their property, and the State.
Failure to comply will result in being thrown from the city wall.

-M. TenkClockwinder.

An exam!!!!!!
It's just not fair and I'm not doing it!

Save us from our families!

2009-08-29T11:38:00.004+02:00

New Babbage is a nice town full of nice people who like us urchins, or at least don't mind us.
For the most part that is.

Yesterday, after visiting the sewers with Jimmy, Quill, Ron and that evil Lil Obie, we went to the City Hall to see Mr Mayor Clockwinder because Obie wanted to ask him to rename a street after his name (which he never dared asking him eventually). Instead, the Clockwinder warned him against being a traitor and that he should change his ways now that the Doctor Obolensky was dead and the observatory ready to be auctionned off.

Obie and Ron then had to leave, followed by Quill. Jimmy and I went out and met Vivi in front of the building. He was looking quite different than in my memories. Shrinken and with less fur... Apparently he had been playing with a ray in the Doctor O's observatory and had changed himself into a kid, and while trying to turn himself back into an adult fox, he just managed to grow his tail back.

Jimmy and I were trying to help Vivi, giving him shoes and clothes and stuff when an old man approached us and called onto us from a short distance.
He had the most unpleasant look on his face while he was examining us, and his voice was harsh, spitting his words as if we were some disgusting creatures and that he didn't want to be contaminated.
He was at first, very rude towards us and Vivi got a rifle out, which later proved to be only a rice gun.
The man somewhat softened and sighed, saying he needed our help to find his grandson Quill.
We said we knew him but didn't know where he was. The manners of the man had set off all the alarm bells in our heads and Jimmy and I tried to question him to know more.
He said his name was Xiu Qiao or something like that, not sure I remember well. And he wanted to find his grandson who was his only left family to smothen him with his affection and drown him in love. He was right creepy and reminded me of my aunt and cousin with their unctuous and hypocritical manners.
We said we didn't know where Quill was and he eventually decided to leave, heading towards the Port.

Later, we saw a familiar silhouette standing in front of the Museum and recognized with utter surprise Elenore Darwin, the Professor Nishi's daughter.
I still remember her as a little child. She was younger than me just one or two years ago... And now is a grown-up.
I was really happy as I thought I would never see her again, and there she was.
She invited us to come inside the Museum, which she had bought back from Miss Elleon, and she sat on a bench while we were looking around, seeing that it had been left unchanged for the most part.
We couldn't talk for very long though, because Mr Mayor Clockwinder came in a little after and asked us if we knew where Quill was. He added that he may very well not be an orphan after all.
He had met the old man who was pretending being Quill's grand-father, and seemed to want to send Quill to him. We protested against that, and Quill arrived at that moment...

We explained him our encounter with the creepy stranger and his face distorted as he was looking ready to run away. He told us his grand-father was evil and had made him work as a cabin boy on his pirate ship the Black Heart and that there has been a storm and the ship sank with its treasure shipment and Quill was the only survivor and that now his grand-father was looking for him.
Quill was really agitated, repeating his grand-father was evil and that he hated all the children, that he would kill him and would kill us too. He said he should better leave the town now that his grand-father was around, but we convinced him New Babbage was the right place to hide in and he finally agreed.

I can't tell where we decided to hide him because someone may find those notes and betray Quill to get the reward his grand-father offered us (which was actually not much of a reward as he just offered not to hurt us in exchange of the information), but now poor Quill is alone in his secret place, relying on his friends to bring him food and comfort, living in the fear of seeing his grand-father get hold of him again.

Hopefully, he is safe. For now at least.

Peter Pan and Science Museum

2009-07-19T10:27:00.010+02:00

Yesterday, some of us SL kids decided to meet up in Hyde Park in London, next to the Peter Pan statue. All a symbol of eternal youth!

There was a squirrel too!!! I even think it was a red one, Yay!

Tepic and Winne arrived first, then me, then Murdock, Kitto, and finally Felixe.

By the time everyone was there it was lunch time and so we settled on the lawn next to the statue to pic-nic.

The weather was really nice and sunny and I got a little sunburn on the nose :op

I then received a text from Gemini saying his train was finally taking off and we decided to meet him directly at the Science Museum.

So we got up and walked across the park towards South Kensington.

The Science Museum is like Heaven if you are into Steampunk (and it's free!). I took like a million pictures so will just show you a few to make you drool over it :op

Babbage's difference engine n°1

After the Museum, we headed to a pub to get a drink and then parted, everyone saying they enjoyed the day!

So it was a great moment and next time Winne wanna go to a zoo or safari park. We'll see hehe

SL6B is open!

2009-06-23T20:04:00.004+02:00

Yep, the SL6B sims just opened and it's actually still a bit difficult to get in there with all the lag and full sims and overall SL problems :op but it's open!

You can go visit the "1000 kids faces floor" (ok there aren't 1000 pics but close!) and find your pic or your friend's and especially don't forget to look for the pic of M Linden. If you find him and click him you can get a prize!

If you aren't a kid yet, you can go through the transmogrifier and become one, and then take a look at Loki and Zak's fabulous Second Childhood network to find out which are the most popular kids places to visit.

And last but not least, go up to the "Nostradamus", Loki Eliot's amazing space ship, and ask Tobi about the prophecies...

http://slurl.com/secondlife/SL6B%20Cryo/28/95/25

Enjoy your visit!

SL6B - Kids pics wanted !

2009-06-13T15:28:00.003+02:00

The Second Life Children (SLC) will be represented once more in this year's SL birthday (SL6B) and Loki is planning an amazing futuristic build.

Under the build will be the part where people can read about the SLC and what it is about to be a kid in SL. And all this part will be above a giant floor made of a patchwork of (hopefully) hundreds of SL kids pics, the "1000 kids faces floor".

So! If you are a SL kid and you want to be on the floor, please send me your photo !!! It should be full perms, better if it's 1024 or 512, but if you don't have that, send me what you have. It's better if it is centered on your face, or face and shoulders and top of torso, but I can recut, so send me what you have!
If you don't have a pic of yourself and you can't upload one, IM me and I'll come take it for you.

Tell all your friends! Send me your pics! Thank you!!!

And don't forget to come visit the floor at the SL6B (June 23 - June 29) :)